


Too Late

by TheFoolsYouSee



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Love Triangles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28533480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFoolsYouSee/pseuds/TheFoolsYouSee
Summary: The image of the kiss kept rising to the surface of her mind, refusing to let her escape it, and the part that broke Amity’s heart over and over again was the besotted look that had been in Luz’s eyes – a look that Amity knew in the depths of her soul should belong to HER.But it didn’t belong to her. Now it belonged to someone else. She was too late.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Luz Noceda/Original Character(s)
Comments: 81
Kudos: 154





	1. Chapter 1

The legend of the Rune’s Walk was one of the lesser-known Boiling Isles fables, and told of a hidden path that was illuminated by moonlight for three days every seven years. The glowing trail would lead to a secret meadow in Bonesborough Forest where lay the Runestone, an enchanted object which could reach into your mind to reveal inner truths and was said to be a fossilised brain cell of the Titan itself. Seven years ago Amity and her siblings had gone looking for the path to see if the story in their father’s old book of legends was true. She remembered the grass and flowers lighting up in a snaking white line, and glowing particles of magic drifting through the air to form the shape of letters as the three children walked. The Runestone itself had sat in a bowl atop a short plinth in the centre of the hidden meadow, and had been angrily thrown back into its container after it had spelled out the name of Edric’s secret crush on its pockmarked surface. In the years since that night Amity had calculated the dates she’d be able to return to the meadow, and the second of the three nights was now circled on her calendar – that was when the legend said the path would be at its most vivid. Until fairly recently she had been planning to take her old gang of popular friends there to impress them, but now she could think of a far better use for the beautiful setting. It was the most romantic way she could think of to tell Luz how she felt.

Amity had to hide her smile from the human walking to class beside her as she considered her plan for the next evening. But Luz was currently too wrapped up in her complaint about her housemates to notice how distracted her friend was.

‘…Then King ate all the human food Eda had left over after I _told_ him I wanted to space it out so I’d feel less homesick, and he got all snappy at me this morning just because I was about to leave for school!’ Luz shook her head. ‘He’s been behaving like a major jerk lately.’

‘That’s a shame,’ Amity grinned to herself, before quickly switching to a sympathetic expression when the other girl glanced over.

‘Yeah,’ Luz sighed as they reached their classroom. ‘Maybe a day of wondrous magical learning will cheer me up.’

But the pair stopped when they entered the room – there was a student already sat at their regular desk. Although he was seated Amity could tell that he was tall, and he had a streak of straggly blond hair sitting above a high undercut. He had a small tear in the skin of his left ear and was wearing the red sleeves and leggings of the Bard Track, which made Amity frown. She glanced around the Abomination classroom before raising an eyebrow at Luz; there were no other free spaces.

‘Uh… sorry,’ Luz said as they approached the new boy. ‘Do you mind squidging a bit? It’s just that we usually sit here.’

‘Huh?’ The boy looked up at them sleepily. There were deep, tired shadows under his eyes, which had red irises, and he apparently had to take a few seconds to process what Luz had said. ‘Oh. Okay.’

He slid himself along the bench towards the wall, and Luz sat next to him with Amity taking a seat on the bench’s other end. The green-haired witchling watched the blond one’s head start to droop; he almost fell asleep before catching himself with a nod.

‘Are you alright?’ Amity asked.

He turned to her, blinking slowly. ‘Uh… Orin,’ he said.

‘No, that’s not what I…’ Amity paused, noticing just how unfocused his eyes were. ‘Are you _sure_ you’re in the right class?’

‘Yeah, Abominations, right?’ Orin glanced questioningly to Luz, who nodded. ‘I heard we can mix tracks now, so I wanted to try this out. They put me in your year’s classes cos I’m new to it.’

‘Oh, an upperclassman!’ Luz held out her hand. ‘Grrrreetings, I’m Luz “The Human” Noceda, and _this_ fine young specimen is Amity Blight.’

Orin looked down blankly at Luz’s proffered hand.

‘ _You shake it, apparently,_ ’ Amity prompted quietly, and the blond boy slowly reached out and gripped Luz’s fingers uncertainly.

‘Alright class!’ Professor Viscous entered, as usual being carried by an Abomination of his own. ‘We’ve got a lot to cover today, so I don’t have time for any shenaneganry. Open your textbooks to chapter four.’

Amity followed along in her book as the tiny Professor droned on about proper storage conditions for incubation. She was just about to turn the page when she heard an odd sound coming from the side, and looked over.

Orin’s head had drooped again over his folded arms. This time his eyes were fully closed and he was quietly snoring. Luz glanced from the sleeping boy over to Amity, stifling a giggle.

‘ _Should we wake him?_ ’ Amity hissed, a little apprehensive as to whether a sudden splutter from their deskmate would earn them all a scolding from the Professor.

‘ _No, let him rest_ ,’ Luz whispered back. ‘ _He looks all… vulnerable….’_

Amity frowned at the thoughtful look Luz was giving Orin, but turned her eyes back to her book before she fell behind in the lesson.

* * *

The green-haired girl hummed to herself as she laid out various outfits on her bed to choose from. Wearing her Grom dress to the meadow would be a nice way to relive her previous most romantic encounter with Luz, although it was probably too formal and would give the game away far too soon. But the human had seen her go-to simple black dress and fuschia leggings combination so many times now – tomorrow night’s outfit had to be special.

‘Hmm?’ Amity toned her happy humming into a question when she heard the knock on her door. It opened in response and her sister walked in.

‘Oh, of _course_ , it’s tomorrow isn’t it?’ Emira smirked, eyeing the neatly arranged sets of clothes. ‘You should have said something…every minute…of every day…for the last week.’

Amity shot the older witchling a beaming grin, demonstrating just how powerless the older girl was to ruin her mood. She went back to her sorting her clothes, but saw Emira lean back on the doorframe from the corner of her eye.

‘You could just text her, you know,’ Emira suggested. ‘Get this all sorted here and now.’

Amity wrinkled her nose. ‘Not very meaningful.’

‘Guess not.’

The younger girl continued comparing tops with skirts, waiting for whatever it was her sibling had come to say.

‘Look,’ Emira said eventually, ‘I know you always want things to be perfect and you’ve built this all up in your head. I just want to make sure you’re gonna be OK if it doesn’t go how you planned.’

‘I’ll be fine,’ Amity smiled.

‘Even if Luz says she doesn’t like you back?’

Amity sighed, lowering the garment she was holding; she knew it was a possibility. But it felt much nicer to dwell on the potential outcomes where Luz would swoon, or tearfully profess her own feelings, or admit to being a human spy who had been sent undercover to the Boiling Isles only to be swayed from her mission by a strange new attraction.

‘Well, it’s only one more day until we know for sure,’ Amity replied, holding a jacket up to see how it looked from all angles.

‘Sure,’ Emira said, lingering a little longer. ‘But… be careful with your heart, Mittens. Cos I care about you and stuff.’

Amity looked back over at the girl now averting her eyes, apparently uncomfortable at having to express affection in a way that wasn’t deliberately annoying. Their family had always taught a principle of strong independence; any connection with others was strictly a way of building a powerful network of contacts and associations. There was no place for truly opening yourself up to someone else, something seen as an unnecessary risk in the Blight view. But Luz had demonstrated a completely different way of being to Amity – total openness, genuine tactile affection, and love shining out in every expression and gesture. It was intoxicating to be around.

Taking the human’s example, Amity ran up to her sister and wrapped her arms around her, planting a big kiss on the taller girl’s cheek as a reward for the expression of concern. Emira grimaced vocally, but put an arm around Amity with supposed reluctance.

* * *

The next day Amity could feel an ongoing flutter in her chest as she walked the school corridor. She wasn’t sure how much control she’d have over the words that would form on the Runestone when she picked it up tonight, but she knew the short phrase she wanted to communicate, and had decided to think it clearly in her mental voice when the time came. The moment being so tangibly close sent pulses of excitement through her, and she wondered if her heart might actually burst from her chest that evening. Not that such a thing wouldn’t be romantic.

Amity smiled dopily to herself and increased her pace. The first part of the plan was to find Luz and let her know to meet tonight, and that at least was easy enough. She knew the route to the human’s locker so intimately that she allowed herself to conjure up another couple of dreamy images on the journey, allowing her feet to lead her forward. As she rounded the final corner and spotted Luz her smile widened to almost burst off her face, but she forced her mouth straight and made sure to adopt a casual, slightly aloof air before continuing forward.

Luz was leaning against her locker talking to someone; the blond boy from their Abomination class the previous day. The human was gesturing excitedly as she spoke, her hand gripping something, and Amity stopped dead when she recognised it.

Luz was holding the Runestone.

‘Hey, Amity!’ Luz waved as the green-haired witchling ran up to her.

‘Where did you get that?’ Amity asked urgently, skidding to a stop in front of the other girl.

‘Oh, this is the Runestone!’ Luz held out the shining piece of rock proudly. ‘King ran away last night and we found him digging through the trash at Orin’s house – you remember Orin.’

Amity looked to the taller boy stood with them, who met her eyes with a stoical gaze. The shadows under his eyes were just as dark as they’d been the day before.

‘Anyway,’ Luz continued, ‘it turns out every seven years King gets all weird and transformy, and he got drawn to this glowing path called the Rune’s Walk. It only comes out when the moon-’

‘Yeah, I _know_!’ Amity interrupted, but her indignant tone didn’t seem to deter Luz from her story.

‘So we chased him down it into this meadow and he got all powered up by the moon stuff, but then Orin did some Bard magic and got him to calm down. And there was this cool rock that reads your mind!’ Luz held out the Runestone, and the little patterned spots on its surface rearranged themselves until they formed the shape of a winking emoji.

Amity stared at the small, dark object, stunned. ‘…What?’ was all she could respond with.

‘I know!’ Luz beamed. ‘We found secret magic, faced danger and learned a few life lessons. Another amazing night on the Boiling Isles! Although we’d all be King’s belly-scratching slaves right now if Orange Juice over here hadn’t joined the Bard Track.’

‘The uniform matches my eyes,’ Orin said seriously, and Luz snorted with laughter.

Amity looked between the snickering girl and the still deadpan-looking older boy, who now apparently had a nickname.

‘What?’ she repeated redundantly.

The bell sounded and Luz pocketed the Runestone. ‘The east wing is where all the Bard stuff is, isn’t it?’ she asked Orin.

‘Yeah, that’s where we live,’ he replied.

‘Great!’ Luz grinned. ‘Then it’s _my_ turn to walk _you_ home _._ ’ She shot a smile to Amity. ‘I’ll see you at lunch!’

‘B-But-’ Amity couldn’t get out her protest before Luz and Orin had already walked off. She watched them continue on, just like they’d apparently done on the Rune’s Walk. Together.

Without her.

_Together._

* * *

At first, Amity didn’t know what to do with herself next. These were meant to be the days when she and Luz would be in the first moments of their relationship, shyly holding hands and excitedly planning a first real date. But everything was anticlimactically normal, and Amity was getting whiplash.

However, she soon forced herself to recover from the hijacking of her original plan and began making a new one. There was another school dance coming up – the Grudgby Season Formaul – which Amity had been imagining she would be taking her new girlfriend to. It would have to serve as a second (or third) chance to let Luz know how she felt about her instead. It was another week before the preparations for the dance began, so Amity decided to wait until then to ask Luz to be her date so that the excitement wouldn’t get the chance to die down. Emira kept urging her to just tell Luz how she felt _now_ , saying there was no reason to wait. But Amity knew their relationship would be something unique; a witch and a human whose friendship began as enmity. They deserved a truly special beginning.

The wait was tough, but Amity forced herself to be patient. She would only occasionally flick through the nicer dresses in her closet, maybe twirling around her room in one to music she thought they might play at the dance. A few days before the window she had allotted herself to ask Luz to be her date, Amity was sat with her school friends at the cafeteria table when the subject of the dance came up.

‘Oh that’s right!’ Luz cried. ‘I wanted to ask you guys about that. How about we all go together?’

Amity’s spoon fell from her hand and clattered to the table. ‘ _All_ of us?’ she queried unsteadily.

‘Yeah!’ Luz grinned obliviously. ‘Bunch of good friends, tearing up the dance floor, absolutely _demolishing_ that boo-ffet. It’ll be just like Grom!’

‘Are you gonna get kicked out again for sneaking your otter costume in?’ Gus asked.

‘I will restrain myself,’ Luz promised. ‘So what do you say?’

‘Hmm…’ Willow put a thoughtful finger to her chin before turning to Amity. ‘I don’t know, what do _you_ think Amity? Would going as a group get in the way of any _other plans_ you might have?’

Amity faltered under the other witchling’s pointed look, and her cheeks pinked.

‘Oh yeah, sorry Amity,’ Luz lowered her voice so it wouldn’t carry to the students at the other tables nearby. ‘ _Wasn’t there someone you were gonna ask to Grom?’_

Amity’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times before she could come up with a response. ‘There’s no-one else I’d want to go with,’ she said eventually.

‘Great!’ Luz beamed. ‘We’ll be the Fabulous, Fashionable, Fantastic Five!’

‘Five?’ Gus frowned, counting around the table on his fingers. ‘Is Eda chaperoning again?’

‘Oh, she might actually, yeah,’ Luz said. ‘She had fun last time, after the fight. But I was gonna ask Orin to come with us. We’ve been hanging out.’

Amity narrowed her eyes. ‘Have you,’ she said. It wasn’t a question.

‘Yeah!’ Luz answered nevertheless, smiling broadly. ‘I know he stopped doing the Abomination classes, but I think you’d like him. He’s got that Blighty brood thing going on.’

‘I see,’ Amity responded, not changing her severe tone. She remained silent as Luz started making plans for the upcoming event, ignoring Willow’s warning look.

* * *

The following days were taken up with studying for a difficult exam, but although she now had no other plans to dwell on Amity still found herself distracted from her schoolwork. All the momentum she’d been building for weeks suddenly had nowhere to go, and she couldn’t find the time to think up what her next attempt to confess would be. Her frustration was only made worse by the occasional run in with Luz and Orin at school, the sight of the pair chatting together making Amity feel strangely tense. But she reminded herself how friendly Luz was with everyone, and of all the gushing bouts of praise the human would give her unprompted. No-one was going to get in the way of their connection.

The day of the dance was also the day of the Abomination exam, and when Amity left the classroom afterwards her mind was a little frazzled. The last couple of questions had stumped her at first; she’d only managed to remember the correct answers as the final squirming maggots had tumbled to the bottom of the giant hourglass at the front of the room. She put the stressful moment behind her as she headed home and turned her thoughts to the Formaul. Even if she wasn’t going with Luz as her date, she’d still be able to spend a fun evening with her. Although after changing and making her way to the Owl House where they’d all arranged to meet, Amity felt her infatuation spike again when the front door opened for her.

She’d expected another fusion-outfit like the one from Grom, a clumsy, delightfully weird combination of looks that perfectly encapsulated Luz’s personality. But tonight the human was wearing a stylish, sequin-covered gold dress that swept gracefully down to her shins. The ornate straps running over her tan shoulders were shaped like strings of golden ivy, and a matching golden ribbon was tastefully tied through her short brown hair.

‘Amity Blight!’ Luz beamed through a touch of makeup. ‘A.B.! …C… D… E F G. You ready to get this party starty?’

Amity was still staring at Luz, taken aback by the elegant ensemble. ‘You look incredible,’ she breathed.

Luz smiled shyly and swished her dress a little. ‘I didn’t want there to be any chance of getting kicked out this time, so Eda dug this out for me. But if there’s a monster attack, I’ll be ready as ever!’

She turned slightly to the side and did a high kick in demonstration, accompanied by a spirited ‘Hi-yah!’ Her golden pump shot off her foot and flew away into the dim evening light.

‘Oh, whoops.’ Luz hopped out of the door after her shoe, and Amity watched the other girl sparkle out against the dark, still frozen to the spot.

‘ _If you ask me, she’ll get grabbed by a Growlfiend before you even get there.’_

The high, piercing voice brought Amity out of her trance, and she turned to the bird face imbedded into the door that had spoken.

‘ _The things that live in these woods LOVE to gobble up lost, shiny children,’_ Hooty continued. ‘ _I know I do!’_

Amity’s eyes narrowed. ‘Try to gobble _me_ up, and I’ll cut my way out of you from the inside.’

Hooty laughed. ‘ _We should have another playdate some time! Eda says you’re good for me, that you keep me humble.’_

Amity recoiled slightly at the house demon’s pitch, grinning stare, and was grateful when the door swung back again to remove him from her view.

‘Hooty, remember not to bother King tonight, he’s still recovering,’ Eda instructed as she stepped out of the door, wearing the same brown suit she wore when chaperoning Grom. She looked over Amity’s seafoam dress and gave the girl a smile. ‘Don’t you look cute?’ she winked, before calling back into the house. ‘Alright, that’s everyone! Let’s roll out!’

Gus and Willow followed the grey-haired woman out of the house. Willow was wearing what looked like a giant, upside-down tulip that faded from red at her shoulders to orange on the large petals that splayed past her knees. Gus had gone for a monochromatic look – a white jacket with black lapels over a white shirt with a black bow tie, paired with black slacks and shoes.

‘You two look great!’ Amity praised.

‘Thanks, you too!’ Willow returned. ‘Where’s Luz?’

‘Uh…’ Amity gestured out toward the bushes where the human was just turning back, holding her shoe up triumphantly.

‘Found it!’ Luz called, choosing to hop back to them unnecessarily.

‘Come on, meter’s running!’ Eda prompted, already seated on her staff.

‘Oh.’ Amity frowned at the limited amount of space available behind the witch. ‘Are we all gonna fit?’

‘I’m taking half of us’, a voice sounded behind her, and Amity turned and tilted her head up slightly to look at Orin. The boy’s blond streak of hair was just as unkempt as ever, clashing rakishly with the neatness of his dark suit. Amity turned her gaze from his ever-tired eyes to the object he was holding.

‘…Y-You have a staff?’ she asked, surprised.

‘My Dad lets me borrow his sometimes,’ he replied with a casual shrug.

‘Isn’t he useful?’ Luz said, grabbing Orin’s shoulder for balance as she returned her recovered pump to her foot. ‘Saves us getting muddy on the way.’

Amity was balking at the familiarity with which Luz had put her hand on him, this boy who’d been a stranger to them not two weeks ago. Then she registered that Orin’s tie was just as gold and sparkling as Luz’s dress.

‘Responsible Chaperone still waiting over here!’ Eda called out, interrupting Amity’s scurrying thoughts.

‘Oh yeah, come on Gus!’ Luz grabbed Gus’s wrist, and they clambered onto Orin’s staff behind him. Amity was left to follow Willow over to Eda.

‘They’re _matching_ ,’ Amity said into Willow’s ear, who was now sat in front of her behind Eda. ‘Why are they matching?’

‘I don’t know, he just turned up like that.’ Willow was looking back at her with similar uncertainty. ‘I guess they must have talked about it.’

Amity looked over at the others as both sets of staffs rose into the air. Gus was gripping the staff for support, but Amity’s stomach churned as her eyes moved over to the pair sat in front of the young boy, and saw that Luz's hands were holding onto Orin’s waist.

* * *

The school hall was decked out with blue-and-yellow banners, ribbons and other decorations emblazoned with the colours of Hexside’s Grudgby team, the Banshees. The team had played their way to victory against all the other schools on the Isles this season, and Boscha had surrounded herself with a crowd of admiring supporters near the centre of the room. However it was noticeable that the pink-haired Team Captain hadn’t been successful in threatening anyone into being her date.

Amity, Willow and Eda had arrived after the others, who were already seated at a table near the door. Eda headed straight over to the Punch Bowl, cracking her knuckles in preparation, and Amity and Willow went over to their friends. Luz was sat between Orin and Gus, and Amity went straight for the chair next to the older blond boy, eyeing him firmly.

‘Oh, Orin do you mind if we swap?’ Luz asked as Amity took her seat. ‘I wanna catch up with my hard-studying, exam-conquering girl over there.’

The girl in question felt a flush of relief at the request, which was the confirmation she’d been waiting for that she was Luz’s top priority tonight. She let out a tense breath as Luz and Orin both stood from their chairs.

But then she spotted the boy putting his hands on Luz’s waist to manoeuvre past her.

Amity barely stopped herself from launching across the table, grabbing Orin by the throat and snarling at him not to touch her, not to _ever, ever_ touch her. But Luz seemed not to notice, or worse not mind the touch, flashing the older witchling a smile when she took her seat again.

‘I feel like I’ve not seen you in ages!’ Luz put a hand on Amity’s shoulder with her usual tactile affection. ‘How’d the exam go?’

‘O-Okay,’ Amity responded, forcibly suppressing her angry quivering.

‘I bet you knocked it out of whatever the Boiling Isles equivalent of a park is!’ Luz beamed proudly. ‘You’ve gotta make yourself free now though, I need me some quality Amity tea-time!’

‘Yeah, sure.’ Amity’s thoughts were colliding into each other manically. The warmth Luz was directing towards her was making her heart soften into mush, the effect heightened by the other girl’s currently stunning appearance. But then her chest would tighten again as images of the intimate touches between the human and the new member of their group resurfaced in her mind. The confusing contrast of emotions were bubbling up, about to make her-

‘ _OW!’_

The group at the table all turned to the source of the noise and saw Eda walking away from the Punch Bowl across the hall, rubbing a black eye grouchily.

‘Looks like the boo-ffet has some real _spirit_ tonight,’ Gus said with a grin. Willow grimaced at the pun, but Luz crowed with laughter.

‘ _Outstanding_ work, Mr Porter!’ She leant across the table to give him a high five.

‘We might go hungry tonight,’ Willow sighed.

‘I can try and get us something,’ Orin suggested. ‘I’ve dealt with all that a few times now, I think I know the trick.’

‘How gallant!’ Luz said, raising an eyebrow, and a little smile crept over Orin’s ordinarily sleepy face as he stood again.

‘So Luz,’ Willow began after the blond witchling had walked across the hall. ‘It sounds like you and Orin are spending a lot of time together.’

‘Yeah, he lives just round the way,’ Luz replied cheerily, apparently oblivious to Willow’s pointed tone. ‘He and his Dad are forest dwellers too, except Orin knows how to tame the night critters instead of just letting them run all over you like Eda does.’

‘Is that why he’s always…’ Gus tugged down at his cheeks to mimic the older boy’s tired eyes.

‘Yeah, he stays up with them most nights,’ Luz nodded. ‘He knows all these songs that different ones like, and he likes to-’

There was a rough scraping sound as Amity stood from her seat. ‘Excuse me,’ she said tightly, and walked out of the hall before all the gushing talk of Orin made her say something about him that she couldn’t take back.

* * *

The cool night air was soothing Amity’s irritation, and she took a long, deep breath. She’d hoped to fully enjoy _this_ dance seeing as neither she nor any of her friends had been nominated to fight a monster. But her anxieties leading up to Grom were being paralleled tonight by an undercurrent of ire that was threatened to boil over into an angry outburst. She shook her head, clearing away the heat from her brain. In a few more minutes she’d be able to return with enough renewed calm to survive being around _him_. Then, if she took a couple more breaks like this throughout the evening, maybe she’d last until-

Amity started at the sound of the door behind her crashing open. She turned to see Willow, who looked like she’d just been running.

‘If you’re going to tell Luz how you feel about her, it has to be right now _,’_ she said urgently.

‘W-What?’ Amity blushed and darted her eyes away. Despite all the knowing smirks her childhood friend had been giving her lately, they’d never openly acknowledged this in words before. ‘I don’t know what you’re-’

‘Amity, there’s _no time._ ’ Willow was giving her a serious look. ‘Orin just asked Luz to dance and Gus is stalling them, but I don’t know how long he can keep it up for.’

‘Oh. Okay. Um. Okay.’ Amity got to her feet and hurried up the steps, her thoughts buzzing. She hadn’t come up with a script for this scenario, and none of her other planned speeches would make much sense without the original context. As she and Willow walked briskly back down the school corridor, Amity decided she would have to wing her confession. It might be clumsy and embarrassing, but it would be better than the alternative.

But as they approached the door to the hall they saw Eda coming out, dragging a struggling Gus with her.

‘Come on pipsqueak, I think you know how much of a third wheel you’re being,’ she was saying with a sly grin. ‘I’m sure we can find you someone your own age.’

‘No, Eda, I’m not doing it for me!’ Gus cried desperately, straining against her firm grip. ‘ _I’m not doing it for me!_ ’

Amity’s heart leapt into her mouth and she broke out into a run. She saw Eda frown over her still-black eye as she sped past, but didn’t stop to see whether the chaperone managed to connect the dots. She and Willow raced into the school hall – their table was now empty. Amity scanned the room frantically, hoping against hope that the pair she was looking for wouldn’t be-

There they were, on the dance floor. Luz had her arms draped up over Orin’s shoulders as they slowly swayed, saying something to him with a cheeky smile. Her fingers were gently playing against the undercut below his straggly blond hair, and the tall boy had his hands on her waist again.

Amity strode forward. There was still time. She would take Luz aside right now and tell her everything. She didn’t care how rude the interruption would be, or how many protesting students she had to shove aside to get to them; if she let this moment pass, there might never be another.

But her feet froze as she saw the human lean up and softly plant a kiss on Orin’s lips.

The room span. The chattering and music in the hall seemed to increase to an overwhelming volume, and Amity felt the noise reverberating in her skull. She felt sick, unable to even focus her eyes on anything around her. But then she realised her vision was blurred from the tears welling in her eyes, and she finally let her breath go in a single sob.

She turned and sprinted from the room, wiping her eyes as she ran. She fled down the corridors past students taking a break from the bustle of the dance, darting around corners and managing to keep a lid on any more sobs until she was in a deserted part of the school. She slumped down against a row of lockers and finally let her tears out.

Amity tried to stop her voice from sounding out, but whimpers kept escaping. She heard Willow calling her name distantly, and the music from the hall was pounding through the building; the sense of being so far away from people obliviously enjoying themselves made another wave of sad loneliness crash over the crying girl. She was barely able to draw shuddering breaths against the torrent of spasms rocking her body, that tense fear that had been building below the surface ever since she’d first seen Luz and Orin together now dissolving into aching sorrow, a raw, stinging wound in the tender part of herself that she’d allowed to be opened up. The image of the kiss kept rising to the surface of her mind, refusing to let her escape it, and the part that broke Amity’s heart over and over again was the besotted look that had been in Luz’s eyes – a look that Amity knew in the depths of her soul should belong to _her._

But it didn’t belong to her. Now it belonged to someone else. She was too late.


	2. Chapter 2

Luz had once explained to Amity the human concept of “hell”; a realm of ultimate suffering where you were tormented by your own personal nightmares. Some of the visual depictions the other girl had shown her matched the imagery of the Boiling Isles quite neatly, but it was only now that Amity truly felt like she was living in hell.

She had gone straight home after her heartbreak at the dance, and it seemed that Luz had spent the rest of the evening apart from their friends as well. A couple of hours after Amity had collapsed on her bed to continue weeping, their group chat exploded with the human’s excited revelation that she and Orin were now dating. Amity had at least been grateful for the small favour of not having to react to the news in person, and forced herself to join in with the occasional semi-supportive reply, even as she was professing her true, distraught feelings to Willow in another scroll-chat.

Luz began inviting Orin to all of their gatherings – he was there at lunch, he was there at the Owl House, he was there on perilous adventures, and Amity shattered inside every time the couple would clutch their hands together, or share a playful joke, or intimately wipe some crumb or splodge off the other’s cheek. The only way she was able to keep herself together in their presence was to channel her inner turmoil into pure and utter hatred.

She hated Orin. She hated the ever-present shadows under his dull red eyes. She hated the central strand of blond hair that always dangled down over his face. She hated the tear in his ear, which she was _convinced_ he must have torn himself in an attempt to look edgy. But most of all, she hated how happy he made Luz. The human was always giggling at a wry comment he’d make, or doing something goofy to try and tease a smile through his stoic exterior. Amity remembered the same delight in Luz’s face at _her_ laughter, and her insides crumpled further at the thought that her progression into a less brooding personality might have been what caused the more cheerful girl to latch onto another target.

Willow and Gus seemed to be trying to appease both Amity and Luz, making conversation with Orin while also remaining politely distant enough so as to not be truly betraying their other friend. In their private conversations Willow would tell Amity to focus on moving on, to accept how things had turned out and put her energy somewhere else. But Amity couldn’t help how drawn she still was to Luz, saying yes to every suggested gathering or activity the human was a part of, even as the ridiculous, beautiful other girl was now constantly paired with someone so repulsive. Each day Amity would build up a longing when around her friend and when she got home she would curl up in bed and cry it out.

Emira was currently stroking the sniffling girl’s hair. Edric had been in earlier too, trying to distract his younger sister with stupid jokes, but had it had soon become apparent that nothing would ease Amity’s agony.

‘It felt so right…’ she whispered as Emira’s fingers continued to run through her dyed-green locks. ‘If it wasn’t meant to be, why did it feel so _right_? She was always excited to see me, and hugging me, and holding my hand… _why couldn’t she have waited just a little longer…’_

‘She didn’t know to wait,’ Emira replied gently. ‘You _are_ special to Luz, but I think she’s also the kind of person who’s open to everyone. There’ll be other girls, you’ll see. One day you’ll have these feelings about someone else and it’ll work out.’

Amity didn’t respond, letting her sister continue her comforting strokes. Feeling this way about anyone other than Luz seemed impossible – there was no-one else like her. Who else would so freely and courageously expose their unfiltered inner self like she did? Where else would Amity find such a secure, loving foundation to rest her anxieties? Luz had been her only chance to fully escape the pressure that had been grinding her away for as long as she could remember, and now that chance was gone.

She buried her face in her pillow. ‘I shouldn’t have let this happen,’ she mumbled through the fabric. ‘I shouldn’t have given Luz this power over me. She can make my day with a smile, and then ruin my week with a word. And now that power’s only going to make me miserable.’

‘Yeah. That’s the risk,’ Emira said. ‘Sometimes it sucks. But sometimes it doesn’t. Opening yourself up is still a good thing – you got Willow back, and you don’t need to rely on selfish people for friendship anymore. Don’t lose sight of those good things that you’ve let happen.’

Amity turned her head to free her face from the pillow and exhaled. Right now there was only one thing in her life she could see, and she still couldn’t tear her eyes away.

* * *

Spending too many of her free hours in bed would have earned Amity the ire of her parents whether they noticed her distress or not, so on her free days when she couldn’t bring herself to do school work or practice on the family celesta, she would force herself to go out and wander through Bonesborough aimlessly. She didn’t feel any better outside than she did in her room, and in the market she would keep turning her head at the sound of a particularly energetic laugh, or a glimpse of brown hair, or-

‘Amity Blight?’

The witchling span at the sound of her name being called. A squat, horned demon holding a clipboard was sat on a stool outside the cafe she had just walked past, and he was looking at her expectantly.

‘…Yes?’ she responded.

‘Seat’s ready,’ the demon doorman said.

Amity frowned. ‘I didn’t ask for a seat. I’ve never been in there before.’

'You’re on the list,’ the demon replied, and turned his clipboard so that the sheet of paper attached to it was facing her. Amity hesitated before approaching, and felt further confusion as she spotted the entry towards the bottom of the doorman’s list:

AMITY BLIGHT, BONESBOROUGH – 11:28am

She looked up at the outside of the café; the dark paint upon its wooden front had faded slightly and she could see a soft light shining through the misted glass. Azure, metallic letters were placed on the top beam that read _Shades Of Blue._

‘What if I don’t go in?’ she asked.

The doorman shrugged. ‘Then you don’t go in.’

Amity wondered if the café might have Toil-and-Trouble Tea, and felt the first hint of a positive emotion for days. But the black cloud in her head quickly took dominance again, obstinately refusing the opportunity for anything that didn’t fit with her despondent mood.

‘No thanks,’ she said to the doorman, and continued on her way.

* * *

‘…Then Orin caught Eda’s head just in time so Tibbles couldn’t finish the incantation, and now we get free Not-Dogs for life!’ Luz clapped a hand on Orin’s back as she finished her story. ‘ _What_ a boyf, am I right?’

‘Sounds like that was fun.’ Willow turned to the green-haired girl sat next to her at the cafeteria table, who was challenging Orin to be the one with the most tired eyes. ‘Right Amity?’ she prompted.

‘Yeah.’ Amity replied.

‘Next time we have a sleepover I’m gonna stop off there and get a hundred for us.’ Luz rubbed her hands together with maniacal glee. ‘That’ll last us a few Azura movies.’

‘Sure.’ Amity said.

There was a buzz under the table and Luz pulled her phone out of her pocket. ‘Aw farts, I’m meant to be showing Gus how those human power tools he found work.’ She turned to Orin. ‘Walk me there?’

‘Yes please,’ Orin smiled back.

Luz grinned and leaned in for a quick kiss. Willow averted her eyes, but Amity kept watching the pair darkly.

‘We’ll see you guys later!’ Luz sing-songed as she and Orin stood.

‘Fine.’ Amity responded, keeping her eyes forward as the couple walked past her towards the door. But then she glanced over her shoulder, making sure they were out of earshot, and reached into her bag to pull out a book. She slammed the volume on the cafeteria table, opening it to a bookmarked page, and spun it around to face Willow.

The bespectacled witchling peered down at the page in front of her. ‘ _The Song of Lovers?’_ she read aloud, raising an eyebrow.

Amity nodded. ‘It’s a Bard Coven spell that intoxicates someone with feelings of attraction.’

Willow eyed the heavy bags under the other girl’s eyes. ‘Did you get any sleep last night?’

‘No, because I was finding _this_.’ Amity pressed a finger down on the page with furious pressure. ‘This must be what Orin’s doing. He turns up out of nowhere and within a couple of weeks Luz suddenly wants to date him?’

‘And how long did it take for you to want to date Luz after you used to hate her?’ Willow countered.

Amity huffed. ‘We should still look into it, right?’

Willow cast her eyes over the rest of the text on the page. ‘It says here this is the one of the most advanced Bard spells there is and it takes decades to master.’

‘Maybe he got someone else to do it,’ Amity suggested.

‘It also says it needs bile from the bile sac of the witch the spell is to be cast on.’

Amity stubbornly kept her eyes on the book, ignoring the large hole in her theory. ‘There _has_ to be something going on…’

‘Why?’ Willow asked. ‘Why can’t Luz just like him? Is it that he’s a boy? Because Luz is allowed to like boys.’

Amity shook her head. ‘It’s not that.’

‘So she’s just not allowed to like anyone who’s not you?’

Amity glared at her friend, refusing to admit it out loud.

Willow sighed. ‘I know this sucks for you,’ she said. ‘But right now you can choose whether to wallow and get bitter, or make an effort to let it go and be happy for Luz.’

Amity lowered her eyes. ‘I can’t...’ she said quietly.

‘Why not?’ Willow’s voice was softer now, and she reached over and took the other girl’s hand. ‘Talk to me.’

Amity kept her eyes down. The silence between them went on for almost a full minute before she pulled her hand away and swept the book back into her bag.

‘I need to get to class,’ she muttered as she stood, and left without meeting Willow’s eyes again.

* * *

The walk home from school was getting to be Amity’s least favourite part of the day. Blight Manor was on the other side of Bonesborough from the homes of her friends, so she would end up walking alone with nothing to distract her from her thoughts. Her anger had been spurred on by the discovery of the Bard spell the previous night, and was still running hot even though she knew Willow had been right; Luz didn’t need a mind-controlling spell to get hyper-fixated on something as exciting as her first relationship. But it was still painful to see her attentions now directed elsewhere, not even noticing Amity’s puffy red eyes or monosyllabic responses.

‘Your seat’s ready.’

Amity was yanked out of her thoughts once again and turned back towards the voice that had called over to her. It was the same doorman in front of the same café who she had seen the other day.

‘I didn’t _ask_ for a…’ Amity cut herself off with a huff, strode up to the seated demon and snatched the clipboard out of his hand, trailing her eyes down the list of names and times until she found her own.

AMITY BLIGHT, BONESBOROUGH – 4.03pm

She narrowed her eyes, no idea how the pre-written list had predicted the exact minute she would pass the café once again. ‘How are you doing this?’ she snapped.

‘Magic, obviously,’ the doorman returned.

Amity scowled, thrust the clipboard back into his hands and walked away again, resolving to avoid this street from now on.

* * *

The green-haired girl tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for Luz to make her decision. The human was looking between her and Orin, a thoughtful finger stroking her chin.

‘Luz, this is more painful than you know,’ Willow groaned, a hand on her brow.

‘Hey,’ Luz protested, ‘if I’m gonna finally beat you at Grudgby, I need a player on my team I can _really_ vibe with.’

Willow gave Amity an apologetic look, and the other witchling returned a tense one filled with subtext. She forced herself to remain silent, tightening her folded arms against herself as she prepared for the obvious.

‘I pick… Amity!’

Amity blinked in surprise. ‘W-What?’ Luz was beckoning to her enthusiastically so she ran forward, hurrying to close the gap between them now that permission was unexpectedly being given.

‘Playing without magic means tactics are more important than ever,’ Luz said, swinging an arm around Amity’s shoulders. ‘And _we’ve_ got a few secrets up our sleeve.’

The witchling couldn’t help the giggle that burst out at the other girl’s touch, the familiar spike of excitement returning. But the shot of joy was now laced with a poison, the old hope snatched immediately away to be replaced by the bitter reminder of how things were. Amity’s eyes found Willow, and where the stocky girl used to have smirked at the reaction, now her face reflected the same sadness that was Amity’s new constant companion.

They took their positions around the deserted Grudgby field, any other students long-gone in the hours since school had ended. Amity and Luz kept a wide gap between them, spreading themselves out across the width of the pitch, and Willow and Orin did the same opposite them. Amity eyed the raised triangular goal behind her opponents, trying to focus her mind on a game plan.

‘This is a no-magic, smidgeless game,’ Gus reiterated from his position in the middle of the pitch. ‘First team to ten points wins the title of _Heads of the Winners Coven_.’ He held up Amity’s old golden “Top Student” star that she’d donated to the cause back when they’d first started their playful matches, which had now been crudely drawn over with colourful writing. Gus held the Grudgby ball out in front of him with his other hand, lowered it slightly, and then threw it into the air.

Both pairs of players ran forward as Gus retreated to the stands. Luz went to catch the ball, but Willow took a high leap and snatched it from above the human’s head. She darted forward past Amity, but the other witchling gave the ball a sharp tap from underneath as she passed, and it flew up out of Willow’s hands.

Willow gave a surprised laugh at the cheeky move, and the green-haired girl gave her a smile and a wink before racing away with the ball. The rush of a well-executed manoeuvre was bringing back an old thrill that had nothing to do with romantic feelings, and it was very refreshing.

But then Amity’s eyes fell on Orin, who had fallen back to guard the goalpost, and her stomach tightened once more.

‘I wonder what _Malin Gael_ would do in this situation?’ Luz called over from where she was running parallel to Amity. The witchling grinned another involuntary grin at the use of their shared code of _Azura_ references, and the two girls angled their routes to meet each other. Amity tossed the ball to Luz, who punted it high in the air before stopping in front of her teammate.

Amity took a breath and put her hands on Luz’s waist from behind; for the briefest of seconds, she allowed herself to dwell on a fantasy where she could hold her like this any time she liked. Then, with a grunt of effort, she flung the human upwards.

Luz met the ball as it fell back down through the air and swung her joined fists down in an arc, propelling the leathery sphere forwards in a straight line. Amity didn’t see where it went – her eyes were fixed on the now-falling figure above, making sure she lined up her outstretched hands to catch her. But from the way Luz was triumphantly crowing as she landed in Amity’s arms, they must have just scored.

‘How’s _that_ for a shot, short stuff?’ Luz cried out to Orin.

Amity took in the way Luz’s smile was fixed on the tall boy even while being held in her arms, and was rocked by a horrific realisation; Luz hadn’t been thinking of their close connection when picking her for the game. She’d been thinking of the fun banter she could have with her boyfriend as they played against each other.

A white-hot rage filled Amity as Luz hopped out of her grip. Her feelings had been toyed with, however inadvertently, and the adrenalin rush of the game was making her anger soar to new heights. Her eyes fell on Orin who was returning to the edge of the pitch with the ball, returning a smile to Luz that Amity couldn’t see as anything other than smug.

She rushed at him.

It was a perfectly legal move, and Orin launched the ball in a high arc to try and go over her head. But Amity took a running, powerful leap up to meet it, and after glancing between the boy below and the goal ahead, she swung her fists to rocket the ball towards her target.

There was a crunching sound quickly followed by a yell of pain.

Amity landed on the floor and rolled forward to spare her ankles, keeping her head down as she came to a stop. She stayed there on her knees, panting as the red mist in front of her eyes dissipated.

‘Orin!’

Luz’s gasp sounded from behind, and then Amity heard quick footsteps pass her. She looked up and saw the human kneeling down next to her boyfriend, who was sitting up and clutching his face – as Luz moved Orin’s hand away Amity saw that his nose was misshapen, and blood was pouring from it.

Luz turned, wide-eyed, to her teammate. ‘ _Amity, what the hell?!_ ’

The green haired girl glanced over her shoulder to see Willow and Gus watching with apprehension from a distance. They all knew what a good player she was and how precise her shots were. There was no way she could pretend she hadn’t done it on purpose.

Her eyes fell back on Luz, whose expression made Amity’s anger rise again; the human was giving her a shocked glare as if she was surprised, as if it hadn’t been obvious that this would happen, as if _Amity_ had been the one to suddenly betray their friendship.

The witchling got to her feet. ‘Sorry,’ she muttered insincerely, and stormed off the pitch.

Hot spikes of blood rushed through her head as she walked away. The adoration she’d once had for Luz was being turned into frustration with her, a feeling that was horribly familiar from their first few encounters with each other. Pain shot through Amity’s heart again as she saw how much this situation was destroying all the progress she’d made.

‘HEY!'

She sped up, but soon felt a hand grab her shoulder and spin her around. She flinched a little to see Luz’s anger so close.

‘What was that?’ the human demanded. ‘You really hurt him!’

 _Good_ , Amity thought with every fibre of her being, and saw Luz’s eyebrows clench further as she read the meaning in her expression.

‘You don’t like Orin,’ she deduced.

Amity scoffed at the obviousness of the other girl’s conclusion.

‘Why not?’ Luz asked. ‘What don’t you like about him?’

Amity flicked through the dozens of reasons she had ready in her head, but they were all transparently petty. ‘Nothing specifically,’ she answered eventually.

‘What, you just hate him for no reason at all?’ Luz retorted disbelievingly. ‘Why don’t you want to tell me? If there’s something you think is _this_ bad about him, don’t you think I should know?’

Amity shook her head, desperately trying to control her mouth. ‘It’s nothing…’

‘No, it’s clearly something!’ Luz insisted. ‘What is it about him you don’t like?’

‘It’s not something he _is,_ it’s something… he has.’ Amity cringed immediately, knowing she’d said too much. She turned and tried to walk away again, but Luz hurried ahead to block her path.

‘Something he _has?_ What does that mean?’

‘Let me go, Luz!’ Amity tried to duck past the other girl, but Luz darted to stay in front of her. The red mist was rising again, and Amity frantically tried to dodge away before it took over. She began to feel the urge to cast a spell and forced the instinct down, but fiery energy inside her was thrashing, swelling, in urgent need of an outlet.

‘Not until you tell me! What does Orin have?’ Luz grabbed the witchling’s arm, and the force of her grip that was the antithesis of every playful touch Amity treasured made the flames finally burst out of her.

‘HE HAS _YOU_ , OKAY?!’ she yelled, so loudly that Luz flinched back. ‘HE HAS YOU AND I DON’T!’

There was a second before the pounding left her ears, and then Amity gave a small, horrified gasp at what she’d just confessed to.

Luz’s hand had gone to her mouth, realisation appearing to finally, _finally_ flood through her. ‘ _…What?_ ’ she asked in a quiet breath.

Amity lowered her eyes, her stomach wrenching at how this was the polar opposite of every fantasy she’d ever had about this moment. ‘I-I… I can’t stand seeing you together,’ she continued in a high, tense tone, her tangle of feelings escaping through the explosive hole she’d just blown. ‘I feel so _angry_ whenever I’m around the two of you, because I wish you were with me… because…’ She couldn’t stop the flow of her confession, the phrase she’d rehearsed in her head so many times automatically forming on her lips. ‘… _b-because I’m in love with you...’_

Her voice broke on the words as they tumbled out, bringing tears with them, and she covered her face with her hands. Shame coursed through her at the admission that she’d turned something so pure and good into something hateful and violent. When she’d managed to reign in the spasms in her throat, Amity sniffed and risked lowering her hands.

Luz looked utterly shell-shocked, her eyes wide with the magnitude of what had just been said.

‘... _Amity_ …’ she managed.

The crying witchling was still gasping for breath through her tears and she wiped her eyes, blinking her vision clear again. But then her heart stopped as she saw the three others on the pitch watching them, Orin holding the fabric of one of Gus’s flags to his bleeding nose. It was clear from their expressions that they’d heard everything that had been said.

Humiliation rose to become the dominant feeling flooding through Amity’s small frame and she turned and ran away, unable to stop her voice choking out with her sobs.


	3. Chapter 3

Luz shut the door on Orin and Gus, leant back against it and slid down to the floor. After being frozen with shock earlier she had made a start to follow Amity, but Willow had stopped her. Instead the group had taken Orin to the Healing Hut to treat his broken nose, although right now Luz was too distracted to be of much help to her boyfriend.

‘How could this have happened?’ she asked softly.

Willow sat down next to her. ‘I know. It’s a crummy situation.’

Luz looked over, frowning at the other girl’s apparent lack of surprise. ‘Wait, you _knew_?!’

‘I knew she _liked_ you, I didn’t know she…’ Willow trailed off and they both looked away, the enormity of their friend’s revelation seeming too much to repeat out loud.

Luz groaned and leant her head back against the door. ‘No-one even wanted to be my friend in the human realm. I’m weirdo Luz! I’m awkward and manic and gangly! I thought just getting _one_ person to want to date me was a once-in-a-million thing, but now…’ Luz let out a heavy sigh. ‘…now I’m hurting Amity.’

‘It’s not your fault,’ Willow assured her. ‘It’s no-one’s fault. It’s just how things have turned out.’

‘But how do I fix this?’ Luz asked, a desperate look in her eye. ‘I have to make things right, somehow.’

‘The only thing that would stop Amity’s pain right now is if you stopped liking Orin,’ Willow said.

Luz lowered her eyes to the floor. The thought of the stoical boy still made something glisten inside her, something that caused her hands to unconsciously reach for him whenever he was in her space, something that sparked excitement whenever she got a text from him even though they texted constantly while apart.

‘I can’t,’ she said quietly. ‘I’ve fallen for him, Willow. I’ve caught those feelings people catch.’

‘Yeah,’ Willow nodded sadly. ‘I thought so.’

Luz leant her head against Willow’s shoulder and the other girl took the distraught human’s hand in hers, stroking it with her thumb comfortingly.

* * *

The sun was now setting, casting a golden glow over the bricks and cobbles of Bonesborough. Amity was wandering slowly along, too exhausted to keep a normal pace. She’d given up trying to wipe the smudged eyeliner from her face, but luckily the streets were quiet right now. She felt in a limbo, the memory how the Grudgby game had ended seeming almost unreal. Luz finally knew. And it had only made things worse.

Amity stopped in the street. She’d just recognised the route that her feet had automatically guided her down, and sighed as she turned back to lock eyes with the familiar-looking demon by the café’s door. He was watching her, but this time he had remained silent.

‘What, am I not on the list today?’ she asked irritably.

‘Yeah, you are,’ he replied, raising his clipboard. ‘You just didn’t seem like you wanted to know the last couple of times.’

Amity eyed the doorman. He seemed relaxed enough, a little bored even. She cautiously approached, keeping a little distance from him as she peered forward to read the words on the paper being held out to her.

AMITY BLIGHT, BONESBOROUGH – 6:47pm

Amity took another, confounded look up at the café’s sign. The mystery of this place had gotten through the stubborn wall of her malaise, and whatever was waiting inside for her, a distraction was exactly what she needed right now. And if things went wrong, she had plenty of pent-up feelings to let out with a few choice spells.

She opened the door and went in.

The short passageway inside the door led to an open space illuminated by low, warm light. Round tables were scattered around the room with various demons and witches sat at each one, some talking quietly to each other. A counter ran along one wall, appliances for making food and drink behind it. A small stage lit a little more brightly took up the further end of the café, and a rotund pig-nosed creature sat behind a drum kit on the raised platform. A pair of spider-faced guitarists were stood next to him tuning their instruments with their various limbs, causing soothing, semi-tuneful plucking noises to sound out across the space.

A witch in a shirt and waistcoat stood by the mouth of the passageway gave Amity a smile as she approached, apparently ignoring her puffy eyes and smudged makeup. ‘Miss Blight?’ she asked.

Amity nodded, and the witch gestured towards one of the tables. Amity followed her over to it and took the vacant seat, glancing over at the old woman next to her; the woman gave her a small nod before silently turning her eyes back to the stage. Amity noticed a couple of other witchlings wearing Hexside uniforms at other tables, and relaxed a little.

A few minutes passed during which a couple more people came in from the street. One looked around with just as much perplexion as Amity was feeling as he was led to his table, but another walked straight over to an empty chair as if it was their regular seat. Eventually a lizard-faced man with orange skin wearing a checked blue suit stepped up to the stage, and what chattering there was in the room stopped.

‘Good evening,’ the lizard-man said into a microphone in his hand. ‘I see a lot of familiar faces tonight, but if this is your first time I hope you’ll join in to support and listen. As usual, I’ll begin; my name is Baz, and I’m a Lesser Basilisk.’

The hand Amity was resting on the table clenched, and she felt a shot of fear. A _Greater_ Basilisk had infiltrated Hexside and incapacitated her not long ago, the snake-like monster draining her magical energy and leaving her weak and defenceless.

‘Now,’ Baz continued. ‘I can tell that some of you are feeling a little nervous, and the reason I know that is because we Lesser Basilisks don’t have the same diet as our mostly extinct cousins. Instead of feeding on magic, we feed on emotions, which doesn’t hurt our “prey” at all. Less carnivore, more carni-vibes.’

There was a subtle rimshot from the drumkit, and a quiet chuckle rippled out across the audience.

Baz smiled at the reaction before continuing. ‘There are lots of ways we L.B.’s can feed, but the way that makes most sense to me is to create a sustainable food source of people who will want to keep coming back. So I built this place, _Shades of Blue_ , in a little side-realm. Our many doors seek out people who are really going through it so that I can ask what’s on your mind, and you can tell us. The idea is to listen and support each other, although if you need to vent and then leave that’s fine too. But if you stay until the end, I can promise that there’ll be music. I’ll leave you for a few minutes so that anyone who doesn’t want to participate can go if they like, and then we’ll begin.’

Baz stepped down from the stage, heading to the counter to chat to the witch behind it, and the musicians began to play a steady, smooth refrain to accompany the quiet talk that had risen in the room again. Amity looked around and noticed that each other person in the room had a sadness in their eyes of one kind or another, creating a collective melancholy that matched her own. She saw one person stand from their table and head to the door, followed by another about a minute later. She considered leaving too; talking about intimate feelings to strangers felt daunting. But the only other places she could go would be home where she’d have to hide her misery from her parents, or her hidden library room where she’d be alone and would be certain to spiral right now. So she remained in her seat and waited until Baz returned from the counter to stand in front of the stage.

‘Thank you for choosing to stay,’ he said, and approached the nearest table. ‘What’s brought you here tonight?’ he asked the brown-cloaked figure seated at it.

‘I’m a Demon Hunter,’ the man with the lumpy green face began. ‘Or, I WAS a Demon Hunter, our boss is making us go through a bit of a career change right now, and it’s kinda stressful. I just don’t think he really respects me, and…’

Amity listened as the man went through how his self-esteem had been rocked by having gone from a noble Demon Hunter to working as the town’s Animal Control. Baz listened too, nodding along, and patiently waited until the man’s outpouring of frustration was over. He went around the tables and one by one everyone got the opportunity to share their troubles. Some talked about things that had occurred that day or that week, and others spoke of things that happened to them as children that still caused them anguish. Baz allowed them all to express themselves for as long or as short a time as they wished, and it was a little while before he made his way round to Amity’s table.

‘Hello Gwendolyn,’ Baz smiled to the old woman sat next to Amity. ‘It’s good to see you again.’

Gwendolyn nodded before leaning over to speak into Baz’s microphone. ‘I’m a mother, and… sometimes I think it’s finally over, and I’ll go months or years when I’m okay, and I’m able to think about it. But then one day it hits me again just like it did before. I know other people lost things in the Savage Ages, and it’s been over fifty years but… to lose your child…’

Low, sympathetic noises sounded from the others listening. Gwendolyn sniffed and Baz patted her shoulder before covering the microphone with his hand. ‘Would you like to talk to someone later?’ he asked her softly, and she nodded.

Amity felt very self-conscious as Baz turned the microphone to her; her problems of teen drama felt trivial compared to such trauma. But the orange-skinned lizard continued to wait, so she took a breath.

‘I’m a girl…who loves a girl…who loves a boy.’

Another affirming murmur sounded from the people around her, and Amity felt an odd, embarrassing warmth at the validation.

‘I think many of us here know how much it hurts when love isn’t returned,’ Baz nodded.

There had been no advice for a difficult situation, no encouragement to keep on going. Just simple acknowledgement that yes, this hurt. The recognition made something deep inside Amity unclench, and the release of tension brought tears of a new sort to her eyes. She gave Baz a weak smile, and he gave her a kind one back before moving on to the next table.

After hearing the last torrent of feelings from a large, pale demon whose four eyes occasionally popped out of his head, Baz returned to the stage.

‘Thank you all for sharing,’ he said, picking up a valved brass instrument and bringing it with him to stand at the front of the raised platform. ‘Now, as promised, it’s time for music.’

The band struck up a slow, gentle rhythm, and after a few bars Baz put his snout to his instrument’s mouthpiece and began to play. It was a mournful, bittersweet noise, the tune sounding spontaneous and yet melodious. Amity began to feel the collective mood of the room, each person’s emotions having been brought to the surface by the evening’s releases. She spotted a shimmer in the corner of her eye and turned her head.

A faint mist was hovering above – no, was rising _from_ – the audience. Steam-like wisps were trailing up from each witch and demon, all different tones of blue; dark and stormy indigo, cold and sharp turquoise, vibrant sapphire, duller teals, and every shade in between. The mist got thicker the longer the music went on, forming a heavy cloud that shifted hues and shined like tears. Amity looked up and saw a stream of vapour rising from her too; it was a deep, aching purple that perfectly matched the anguish she felt inside.

Tendrils from the cloud began to drift towards the stage, drawn to the source of the music. They surrounded Baz until his orange body had a glowing blue aura and he closed his eyes, continuing to play. His head stretched upwards slightly to allow a pair of fleshy frills to expand from either side of his neck which fluttered, softly wafting the blue vapour into gill-like slits at their base. Baz kept playing as he fed on the crowd’s sadness and Amity listened, her pain soothed by the music’s gentle acceptance.

* * *

Most of the other members of the audience had left, the only holdouts now sat at the café’s counter sipping at drinks. One of the spider-faced guitarists was still talking with Gwendolyn in a side room, and the rest of the band were gathering up their equipment as Amity approached them.

‘Hi,’ she ventured, and Baz turned from where he’d been packing away his brass instrument, his neck frills now hidden away again.

‘Hello.’ He pointed a questioning finger, tilting his head. ‘First time?’

Amity nodded. ‘I was wondering… do you have to be on the list to get in?’

‘The list is for new people.’ Baz replied. ‘The spell on this place finds those that need us, but if you want to come back just take a token from Miriam on the door and that’ll get you in.’

Amity glanced back at the witch who had shown her to her seat earlier; she was stood by the exit holding a small box of blue, circular tokens.

‘Thanks,’ Amity said, turning back to Baz. ‘I want to come back again. I’ve still got some sadness for you to take away.’

Baz chuckled and lowered himself to sit on the edge of the stage in front of her. ‘We don’t take sadness away,’ he explained gently. ‘Emotions always refill themselves until they’re dealt with. But what we _can_ do is give you a space to acknowledge those emotions and accept them, and process them. A lot of people who come here find that once they do that, it becomes easier to make changes in their life that help.’

‘Oh.’ Amity couldn’t imagine what she could do to ease her current situation. But even though there was still a wound inside her, it no longer felt as raw as it had when she’d arrived. ‘Thank you,’ she said, generally. ‘I’ll be back…I’m not handling things well.’

‘It’s a good first step to admit that,’ Baz smiled. ‘Come by any time.’

Amity felt a genuine smile appear on her own lips in return before she nodded, and headed to Miriam to collect her token.

* * *

During the next couple of days Amity would leave her classroom at lunchtime, pass the cafeteria, and head out of the school doors to sit alone on the front steps. She didn’t feel capable of facing Luz yet. She didn’t know if she’d ever be able to face her again.

She leant forward to rest her chin in her hands, her lunch lying untouched next to her. Having avoided the painfully happy couple lately meant the anger that had been crawling over her soul was quieter now, but it had been replaced by an anxious uncertainty over what would happen next. She didn’t know which felt worse.

‘You’d better eat your lunch or birds will try to get it.’

Amity turned and tensed at the sight of the figure who had come out of the school; Orin was looking down at her with his usual half-eyed, semi-vacant stare.

‘We’ve not seen you lately,’ he said. ‘How are you feeling?’

Amity’s eyes narrowed. ‘How I’m feeling is none of _your_ business.’

Orin pointed to the healing-glyph patterned band-aid that was stuck across his nose. ‘You kinda made it my business.’

A sudden guilt appeared in Amity’s stomach and she looked away from the tall boy. Without the rushing intensity of the Grudgby game she now felt far less justified in what she’d done. But she still huffed pointedly when Orin sat down on her step on the other side of her lunch bag.

‘Luz is really torn up,’ he said. ‘She just wants things to be right between you two. She really misses you.’

Amity cringed. This was the absolute last person she wanted to discuss any of this with.

‘Look,’ Orin continued as he realised she wasn’t going to respond. ‘I care about Luz, and I know _you_ care about Luz, and this isn’t something I’ve talked about with her but… if we both want to make her happy again then maybe, if she’d be up for it, we could… separately… _both…_ make her happy.’

It took a few seconds for Amity to discern what Orin was proposing, but when she did she turned back to him with surprise. The blond boy seemed uncharacteristically self-conscious, giving her a slightly wary look. Amity wondered if he was expecting her to break his nose again.

‘You mean like a… Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays situation?’ she frowned.

‘Well…’ Orin ran a hand over the back of his neck. ‘We already have a thing on Wednesdays, but yeah, something like that.’

Amity looked ahead and thought the idea over. It was a way forward, and her heart started to race at the returning, tangible chance of being with Luz, of holding her hand and kissing her and seeing that besotted look in her eye. But then she imagined Luz going off to share those same things with someone else, and that jealous muscle in her stomach tightened again.

‘No,’ Amity shook her head. ‘I don’t think I could do that.’

‘Okay,’ Orin nodded. The pair sat in silence for a moment before he took a hesitant breath to speak again. ‘…I’m sorry for coming in and ruining things for you.’

Amity looked the other witchling over. She’d always taken his deadpan tone as an indicator of sneering sarcasm, but now she recognised a quiet sincerity in him. The apology had been genuine. She could see how right he and Luz were for each other, and although the admission made something well in her throat, it also made the first piece of the knot inside her begin to untangle.

‘It’s not your fault,’ she admitted with a sigh. ‘I left it too long and someone else saw how amazing Luz is. I can’t blame you for that.’ She glanced away again awkwardly. ‘…And I promise not to try and break your face again.’

‘Thanks.’

They sat in silence again, the unease between them rising to a peak that was only released at the scream of the school bell signalling the end of lunch. A few chattering students came out of the doors and walked past them down the steps, heading towards the Beast-Keeping stables. As the small crowd passed, Amity got up, picked up her uneaten lunch, and she and Orin went back into the school.

They stopped in the corridor when they both spotted Luz come around the corner. The human froze too, watching them apprehensively, but the pair’s quiet awkwardness apparently suggested at the summit they’d just had, and Luz cautiously approached.

‘Hey,’ she said.

‘Hey,’ the other two both echoed.

After a pause, Orin stepped out of line with Amity. ‘I should get to class,’ he said. But where he would normally have leant down and kissed Luz, instead he just reached out and squeezed her hand, and Amity felt a little appreciation escape past her stubbornness. Luz’s eyes briefly followed her boyfriend as he headed away before she turned back to her friend.

The two of them stood still amongst the steady bustle of the other students. For the first time since the Grudgby field Amity looked into the face of the girl she was in love with, whose ever-open features clearly communicated her own pain.

‘What do we do?’ Luz asked quietly.

‘I don’t know,’ Amity replied softly.

They stood there for a little longer. Then they started silently walking along the corridor towards their classroom together.


	4. Chapter 4

Luz and Amity hadn’t had much of a chance to talk during the final classes of the day, so when they’d walked out of the school with Orin, Willow and Gus the others had tactfully made their excuses and allowed the two girls to head off together. But the pair were now ambling along the woodland path in silence, neither of them apparently knowing how to begin.

Amity risked a glance over at Luz and felt a shot of dread at her friend’s tensed brow. ‘Are you still mad at me for hurting Orin?’ she asked.

Luz turned her frown to the other girl, but it softened a little at her guilty expression. ‘Well, I didn’t exactly like it,’ she confirmed.

Amity nodded. ‘I’ve promised him that I won’t do anything like that again.’

The human stopped, and the witchling did too.

'How long...?' Luz let the question hang unfinished in the air, and Amity felt the sinking weight in her stomach return.

'I was gonna ask you to Grom before I got made Queen,' she replied.

The events of that night seemed to flash across the human's mind again and she slapped a hand to her head. ' _I'm such a dummy_ ,' she groaned. 'I'm the dumbest doofus that ever did do.'

'Well, I was oblivious too,' Amity admitted. 'I didn't see that I was missing my chance. I was too focused on the perfect fantasy I had in my head to notice that you were falling for someone else.' She attempted to smile wanly at the other girl, but she could see Luz comprehending with horror in real time what that moment of realisation had been like for her.

'Amity, I'm so sorry,' Luz whispered. 'If I’d known getting together with Orin would be hurting you…’

Amity was glad when that particular sentence trailed off. Anything that started with “if” didn’t feel like a very helpful road to go down right now.

'We're here now,' the witching said firmly. 'No point thinking about what might have happened.

'But you said you couldn't stand being around the two of us now,' Luz said, an anxious look in your eye. 'Does that mean... you can't be around _me_ any more? Have I ruined us being friends?'

Amity felt a shot of fear shoot through her; losing Luz as a friend too felt like more than she could bear. 'No, that's not what I meant,' she clarified quickly. 'It was never _you_ I was angry at.'

She'd hoped the assurance would bring comfort to the other girl's face, but Luz still looked worried at the implication that had been left open.

'Amity... you and Orin are two of my favourite people, and I want my favourite people to be friends too...but are you not gonna be able to do that?’

The witchling pursed her lips pensively, remembering the burning anger she’d felt in the final moments of the Grudgby game. Her plan to ensure another outburst wouldn’t happen had been to avoid Orin wherever she could, even now that she knew he wasn’t the soulless villain she’d made him out to be in her head. But then again, the inner friction caused by keeping her feelings hidden was no longer there, and she remembered what Baz had said about it becoming easier to deal with feelings after they’d been processed. Amity looked into the face of the girl she’d do anything for.

‘I’ll work on it,’ she promised, and Luz’s face relaxed into a relieved smile.

‘There’s that hidden sweet centre!’ the human grinned and wrapped her friend in a hug. ‘I knew you wouldn’t let-’

‘Luz, please let go.’

Something about the quiet tone Amity had used must have made Luz sense the urgency of the request, and she quickly whipped her arms away and took a step back.

‘S-Sorry,’ she stammered. ‘…Is it too much?’

Amity went over her words in her head, trying to arrange them in the shape of her thoughts, and made a few false starts before finally speaking. ‘I…I don’t get why you’re so cuddly with me if you don’t mean anything by it,’ she said sadly.

Luz seemed to be thinking over her reply; Amity could see the other girl, always so openly affectionate with those around her, struggling with the concept of holding back that affection to be given only to a specific person. Despite everything they’d discovered that they shared, Amity was suddenly struck by how different the two of them really were.

‘…I want to show all my friends that I love them too,’ Luz finally responded.

Amity chewed her lip. ‘For me, that stuff is… big. I’d only be like that with someone I was really comfortable with. So when you do it, I keep thinking you mean what _I’d_ mean by doing it.’

‘Oh...’ Luz fidgeted her hands together guiltily. Amity wondered if having to hold back her instinctive gestures was putting a dam in the human’s flow of words, and the silence between them became longer and more tense.

‘Are things…different between us now?’ Luz asked eventually.

Amity looked down at her feet uncertainly ‘...I don’t want them to be,’ she replied.

‘Me neither,’ Luz agreed. ‘Like I said, you’re still one of my absolute favourite people.’

Amity gave her an embarrassed smile. ‘So are you…obviously.’ Her smile faded and she let out a heavy sigh.

‘Hey,’ Luz said with as much reassurance as she could seemingly muster. ‘We’ll figure this out.’ She reached over before quickly pulling her hand back, but then it went forward again for some alternative form of contact and she had to snatch it away again. After a few more uncertain arm-spasms, Luz finally settled on reaching forward for a platonic handshake.

Amity couldn’t help but chuckle at the other girl’s awkwardness, and shook Luz’s hand firmly. Luz smiled back, but now that they were sustaining eye contact Amity saw her friend start to frown again; without anything else to distract her, she was now apparently noticing those red, tired eyes.

'Has it been that bad?’ Luz asked softly.

Amity forced a weak smile. ‘I’m working on that too,’ she said.

Luz's face was suddenly overcome with guilt again. ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ she asked. ‘Anything, just say the word.’

Amity winced internally. The reminder of the other girl’s caring nature wasn’t making her feel any better.

‘I don’t think you’re the person who can help me through this,’ she said quietly.

Luz looked pained at the idea that she couldn’t help with her friend's suffering, but nodded. Amity realised that their hands were still clutched together and, with a deep breath, forced the last stubborn part of herself back into alignment.

She let go.

* * *

Being around Luz was still hard. Her smile would still make Amity’s heart somersault before landing in a dark puddle of sludge, but instead of allowing her yearning to linger she now made an effort to distract herself with something in the moment. The fact that her feelings were no longer a secret trapped inside was making them easier to control, and for her part Luz was holding back the hugs and other affectionate touches that she used to throw around freely. Whether it was from kindness or awkwardness, Amity was still grateful.

Willow was a big help, making lots of plans for the two of them to spend time together without Luz, and Amity began to feel them regain that same closeness they’d had when they were first friends. Since she’d started going to _Shades Of Blue_ regularly Amity felt a lot more open to trying things that would improve her mood; having a set time and place where she could allow her sadness to flow made space for other emotions to resurface throughout the rest of her week. She would still cry in her room sometimes, but less often and less deeply now. There were even entire days where she forgot to feel sad.

* * *

After an evening of talking and listening at _Shades Of Blue_ , Amity had remained at her table with the cup of warm tea she’d ordered. Although the outside world wasn’t as miserable as it had been, she still felt a reluctance to leave the café’s comforting atmosphere.

‘Mind if I join you?’

Amity looked up at the establishment’s orange, scaly proprietor, and gestured openly to the chair opposite her. Baz took the seat and clasped his hands together on the table.

‘Generally we make this place about letting people come and say whatever they need to,’ he said. ‘But sometimes we do a check-in if a regular seems like they’re getting stuck in a cycle.’

Amity swirled her tea, not meeting his eyes. She knew she’d covered a lot of the same ground in her contributions for the last couple of sessions, and in an odd way had started to _enjoy_ going over her sorrows again and again.

‘I don’t know what comes next,’ she admitted. ‘I guess I’ve accepted how things are with me and Luz, so I don’t have the right to feel this way anymore. But I still do.’

Baz nodded. ‘We can’t control feelings,’ he said. ‘That’s what makes them so awful, and so wonderful. And flavoursome.’

A small smile escaped from Amity’s mouth, and Baz grinned before continuing.

‘What we _can_ control is our behaviour, where we choose to put our energy. After we process our emotion, then comes the time to find something outside ourselves to put our thoughts to, so our feelings have time to settle again. And in light of that…’

The scaly musician stood from the table, headed over to the stage and started moving aside a few objects. Amity gulped down the last of her tea and followed him over.

‘The spell on this place provides everything we need to accommodate the people who come to us,’ Baz explained as he continued moving music stands aside. ‘Enough chairs, any accessibility stuff… and today _this_ turned up.’ He pulled a covering off the object that had been positioned behind the cluster of equipment, and Amity immediately recognised it.

It was a celesta, although not quite as fine and ornate as the one in Blight Manor that she and her siblings had practised on for years. The upright rectangle of wood had a row of black and white keys jutting out along its front about two thirds up and although most of the body was a dark mahogany Amity also noted the seafoam-coloured panelling, a contrast clearly marking this instrument out for her. She glanced at Baz questioningly, and he gestured for her to examine it. She stepped forward to run her fingers over the keys, and soft bell-like tinkling sounded from inside the casing. She took a seat at the stool in front of it and arranged her fingers to play a few chords, testing the celesta’s sensitivity. The sound chimed out softly at her lightest touch, echoing around the café, and the high metallic timbre made even the major notes sound ethereal. Amity started to play one of her favourite pieces, her hands gliding softly over the keys; now that she was in a different space to the drawing room of the manor she felt the freedom to throw in a few improvised flourishes to the melody.

‘The time comes for many of our customers when they don’t need us to cope any more,’ Baz said. ‘I’m always glad to see it, and sometimes we have to remind people that they’ve got their life to live beyond these walls. But the spell seems to think there’s more you can get out of this place, if you want.’

Amity closed her eyes in satisfaction as she finished the piece and kept her fingers pressed on the keys, sustaining the catharsis of the final notes until they had vanished into the air. Then she opened her eyes and looked to the empathic lizard.

‘Does it help?’ she asked.

‘If you let it,’ he replied, and Amity watched him go over to pick up his own, brass instrument. He lifted it to his snout and played an improvised, soulful tune, and Amity found the matching chords. The celesta’s slow accompaniment added a dreamlike tone to his melody, and the rest of the café seemed to fade away. Amity closed her eyes again, immersing herself in the music.

* * *

Luz came back into her room and flashed Orin a smile as she carried the small yet bulky TV in. ‘Alright,’ she said, ‘let me just pop a lightning glyph under this bad boy and we’ll be good to go.’ She placed the TV down opposite the cushions she’d arranged against the wall for their comfort, and glanced around for the disc. ‘ _Where is it, where is it_ … oh, here we go!’ She flicked some laundry aside to uncover the shiny flat object that had been glinting out at her. ‘Now, _The Field of Deadly Fates_ isn’t the first one, but personally I think it’s the best introduction for the _Azura_ newcomer.’

‘Actually…’

Luz turned to Orin, who was sat leaning back against the cushions. His eyes weren’t meeting hers.

‘…I’ve got some news,’ he said.

‘Oh. Okay.’ Luz picked up the movie’s case and replaced the disc, leaving it on top of the TV before going to sit next to her boyfriend. His red irises were still directed at the floor, and Luz started not to like his cautious expression.

He reached over and took her hand in his. ‘My dad got a new job,’ he began. ‘And… it’s up by the Skull. So we’re moving.’

Luz felt his hand clutch hers tighter, and something cold shot through her chest.

‘…Oh,’ she said in a very small voice. ‘When?’

‘Next weekend.’

‘Oh.’

The steady warmth between them changed hue to something sorrowful.

‘I can visit,’ Luz suggested. ‘We can call.’

‘Yeah, we could,’ Orin acknowledged. ‘But… I’m gonna miss you so hard every day, and then one day you’ll have to go home and it’ll get harder. And that’s not much to look forward to.’

Luz remained silent, but knew he was right. Whatever her post-summer schedule turned out to be would make popping through the portal into Bonesborough hard enough without also arranging for one of them to travel all the way across the Isles as well. It wasn’t a very sustainable image.

Luz felt Orin’s other arm come around her and she leant her head against his shoulder, tears welling in her eyes. ‘ _This thing’s only just started_ ,’ she whispered.

‘I know,’ he said, and took a wavering breath. ‘But it’s been so good. And that’s why I want us to remember _this_ instead of remembering it being hard.’

Luz focused on the feeling of his other hand gripping her shoulder, savouring his touch. Then she turned her head and they kissed as they both cried.

* * *

‘So you’re gonna start playing with the band?’ Willow asked.

‘Yeah,’ Amity replied. ‘I think I’ve done all the venting I can, and I get to do something I enjoy while helping other people.’

‘That’s great,’ Willow nodded. ‘I’m glad it’s made a difference.’

‘It did,’ Amity agreed, ‘…but even though venting was useful, talking to you about everything was what got me through.’ She awkwardly reached over and gave her friend’s hand an affectionate squeeze, and Willow smiled and squeezed back.

They spotted Eda’s staff lowering down from the sky and began to head over to the spot in Hexside’s front courtyard where Luz usually disembarked. But Amity frowned at the human’s body language as she climbed off the hovering length of wood; even from this distance she seemed abnormally limp. Amity saw Eda pull the girl into a brief hug before flying away, and shared a concerned look with Willow before they both hurried over.

‘Hey guys,’ Luz smiled weakly as they arrived.

‘Hey, what’s up?’ Willow asked quietly, putting a hand on the dejected-looking girl’s arm.

Luz sniffed and had to take a shaky breath before she could speak. ‘Orin’s moving…and we realised it’s not gonna work between us.’

There was a short struggle between Amity’s feelings as to which would rise to the top, but the sight of how small and sad Luz looked banished anything positive. Her heart ached in solidarity with her friend, knowing exactly how much this would be hurting.

‘Luz, I’m so sorry,’ Amity said, sincerely, and the human gave her a grateful nod before taking another breath and forcing a smile.

‘We’re gonna see him off properly though,’ she said with determination. ‘There’s gonna be a party with as many Not-Dogs as we can fit into one room. Willow, I’ll need to borrow all your wheelbarrows.’

* * *

During the week leading up to the farewell party, Luz kept her determinedly cheerful attitude. She made sure to take their group to all the Bonesborough locales Orin would miss when he was gone; _The Snack Shack, Just Spiders,_ Femur Bay Beach, making sure they made as many happy memories as possible on each outing. Amity found herself having to make an effort to meet the high energy required from the trips – staying quiet amongst the fun and games would have dampened the mood for everyone, so she did her best to join in.

She didn’t give herself any time to dwell on thoughts about what might happen after Orin had moved away, instead focusing on her schoolwork when she wasn’t playing with the band at _Shades Of Blue_. Learning to express herself through the music instead of rigidly sticking to whichever piece she was practising had become her new outlet, and it actually felt easier to siphon off her feelings this way; when she couldn’t find the words, there would be a motion or a cadence she could find in the celesta’s keys that matched what she wanted to convey.

Being up on the stage while Baz allowed the café’s patrons to speak their troubles gave her a new perspective; instead of having her own speech to go over in her head while she waited for her turn to talk, she was more able to listen to the stories being told by those the spell had summoned. And when Baz began to feed on the shimmering blue cloud of the customer’s sorrows, she could see that the band made their own contributions of wisping vapours. Her own stream of purple mist was becoming a less bruised shade as time went on.

One afternoon Amity was walking through the empty corridors of Hexside’s east wing after school. There was a celesta piece that she hadn’t been able to find in her family’s collection of sheet music, and she’d been hoping the Bard Track might have a copy she could borrow. But as she approached one of the music rooms she heard discordant twanging noises and muttered curses coming from inside, and peered through the open door.

Orin was sat on the floor holding a long sitar in his arms, plucking at the strings while glancing at sheets of paper on the floor, which looked like they had scribbled notes on them.

‘Oh, hey Amity,’ he said, looking up.

‘Hey,’ Amity replied, coming through the doorway. ‘What were you playing?’

Orin glanced sheepishly back to the sitar. ‘There’s a human song that I wanted to play for Luz at the party, but I don’t think it was written for this thing.’

Amity looked over the boy who’d caused the anguish she still felt twinges of. The boy who would now be hurting Luz too by leaving, no matter how amicable a parting it was, putting her through everything Amity had gone through.

The boy whose eyes, once dark with shadows, were now red and puffy, his expression a poor attempt at hiding the sorrow Amity knew so well.

She went over to the clunky old school celesta that sat against the wall of the music room, and seated herself at it.

‘How does it go?’ she asked.

* * *

Principal Bump had allowed them use of the school hall to host Orin’s farewell party, and Luz had stayed true to her word and gotten an absolute embarrassment of Not Dogs to feed the guests, who consisted of her, Orin, Amity, Gus, Willow, and all of Orin’s friends from his own year. Some of his Bard-Track classmates were strumming and tootling away in a corner, giving a cheerful atmosphere that helped the conversation stay light and celebratory. Amity had been surprised to see Skara among Orin’s side of the attendees, and had taken the chance to catch up with the bubbly girl from her old group of friends.

‘He used to tutor me in the scare-emin,’ the dark-skinned witchling explained. ‘I never really got the hang of it in the end, but he was pretty patient.’ She leaned closer to Amity to whisper conspiratorially. ‘ _I used to have kind of a thing for him, actually.’_

‘ _Oh_.’ Amity raised an eyebrow.

‘Yeah,’ Skara nodded with a grin. ‘It was a while ago though, before Batrick.’

‘Uh-huh…’ Amity nibbled at her Not Dog thoughtfully. ‘Just out of pure curiosity, why did nothing ever happen there?’

‘Well,’ Skara sighed, ‘It was back when you were Grudgby Captain, and you always insisted on those long after-school practice sessions. It didn’t leave much time for dating.’

Amity blinked, quickly running through the implications in her head to their horrific conclusion. ‘So if I hadn’t made you practice…he might have been dating _you_ this whole time?’

Skara shrugged. ‘Maybe. But Batrick’s great, or whatever.’ She smiled and put a hand on Amity’s shoulder. ‘So no hard feelings.’

‘…No,’ Amity agreed, trying to stop her eyes from narrowing furiously. ‘No hard feelings.’

She heard a cough nearby, and they both looked up to see Orin stood by their seats.

‘You ready?’ he asked quietly, and Amity nodded. Orin glanced to the girl sat next to her. ‘Hey Skara,’ he said awkwardly.

‘Heyyyy,’ Skara returned with a flirty little wiggle of her fingers. Orin’s eyes widened a little, and he just nodded back before heading to the stage. Skara gave Amity an amused giggle, and the green-haired girl gave her a quick smile, but once she’d turned her back she widened her eyes to herself as she followed the blond boy.

The other musicians stopped as she took a seat at the school celesta that had been positioned on the stage, and Orin went over to the microphone at the front.

‘Uh… hi,’ he began, and the chattering around the room faded away as the students all turned to look at the source of the amplified voice. Amity spotted Luz giving her a questioning frown, but she just gave a short wave back.

‘Th-thanks for coming,’ Orin continued in his husky monotone. ‘It’s good to see you all before I go so… thanks. Um…I made some really good friends here at Hexside, even recently, with Luz… obviously.’ He gestured over to his girlfriend, whose hand had gone to her chest, her eyes beginning to shimmer. Amity saw Willow take hold of the human’s other hand supportively. ‘So, um…’ Orin put his hands on the microphone, seemingly to give them something to do. ‘I wanted to sing a song that I know she’ll like.’

Taking her cue, Amity began playing the opening bar of the human song that Orin had chosen. She glanced over at Luz and saw her brow begin to crease with faint recognition, so Amity threw in a few flourishes to disguise the melody until the time was right. Once she’d gotten to the end of the introduction, Orin leaned forward to bring his mouth to the microphone.

‘ _We’re no strangers to love,_ ’ he sang, and Luz lost it. Amity felt that old involuntary grin return to her face at the sight of the human’s astonished, wheezing laughter amongst the puzzled glances of the other students. She glanced at Orin, who was shooting her a knowing grin, and she chuckled at the inside joke he had let her in on. Amity continued to play as Orin gently and lovingly Rick-Rolled his girlfriend.

* * *

After the party, Amity, Willow and Gus stayed to clear up; Luz and Orin had left not long ago to spend their last evening walking on the beach together. The others had promised to join them both the next day to help Orin and his Dad pack up their final belongings, but Amity wouldn’t be joining them. Whatever tearful final parting would happen between Luz and Orin was not something she needed to see.

Willow and Gus had gone to take some of the instruments back to the east wing, and Amity was bagging up the final Not Dogs that hadn’t been claimed by the since-departed crowd of students. She heard footsteps come through the door and turned around.

‘Oh, hi,’ she said to Orin with surprise.

‘Hi,’ he returned. ‘Did Luz leave her phone thing here?’

‘Um…’ Amity glanced around, scanning the room. She went over to a spot she remembered the human standing near and moved some party debris aside. ‘Oh, here it is!’

‘Thanks,’ Orin took the flat blue rectangle from her. But he remained where he was, tapping the phone against his hand. ‘Thanks again for helping me with the song. You didn’t have to.’

Amity shrugged. ‘You were right, making her laugh was the best gift you could give her.’

Orin smiled. ‘I was a bit worried the lyrics might be giving a mixed message considering everything, but she got what I was going for.’ He fidgeted in place for a moment. ‘…Are you guys gonna make sure she’s okay?’ he asked.

Amity nodded. ‘Yeah, we will,’ she assured him.

‘Thanks,’ Orin said gratefully. Then he gave her a final nod and went to leave again.

Amity watched him walk across the hall back towards the door, and felt a surprising sadness at the idea that she might not see him again. She wondered at what point it had been over the last couple of weeks that they had become friends.

‘Can I ask you something?’ she called after him.

Orin turned back, a little warily. ‘…Yeah?’

Amity flicked her left ear. ‘How did that happen?’

The blond boy’s eyes widened and he went a little red as he reached up to touch the tear in his own ear. ‘I, uh…’ he looked away shamefacedly. ‘…I thought it would make me look edgy.’

Amity stared at him for a few seconds, and then let out a snort of laughter. ‘Well, that was dumb, wasn’t it?’

‘Yeah, it was,’ Orin nodded with an embarrassed smile. ‘Really dumb.’

They shared a chuckle. Then Orin raised hand in a brief farewell before heading out of the hall.

* * *

In the weeks after Orin left, Amity, Willow and Gus made themselves into an efficient, energised network of support for Luz, alternating between quiet, comforting nights in and fun distractions at a magical festival or sporting event. Luz would always gratefully agree to their suggestions but would still lapse into a glum malaise between diversions. The sight of the normally sunny human so downcast made her friends all the more motivated to give her the help she needed.

One evening Amity was with Luz in a quiet corner of the Bonesborough library. She’d asked for the human’s help in choosing the next book to read to her little gathering of children in her weekly storytime sessions, hoping that a few of the many options available would spark a smile on the other girl's face.

‘How about this?’ Amity suggested, holding up a thin volume with a picture of a grumpy-looking tree on the front. ‘ _Leaf Me Alone,’_ she read aloud, and aimed the book to allow Luz full view of the terrible pun. Luz glanced over and smiled wanly before looking down at the thicker volume in her hand, but she didn’t look like she was taking in the words on its cover. Amity went over to her.

‘ _The Ins and Outs of Rascality?’_ Amity frowned at the title of the book in Luz’s hand. ‘This shouldn’t be here, this is from the Mischief section. Someone must have moved it.’

‘Pretty mischievous of them,’ Luz said, the corner of her mouth turning up a little. They both chuckled, but then froze at the sudden noise that sounded from Luz’s pocket.

Her phone had buzzed with a text alert.

Luz’s eyes widened and glance down towards the source of the noise, before returning to meet her friend’s gaze uncertainly. Amity gave her an awkward smile before stepping away to run her finger over the spines of a few more shelved books, allowing Luz to check her phone privately. The witchling waited until the sound of the human’s fingers tapping against her device had stopped before turning back.

‘It was Eda,’ Luz explained. ‘Just saying she’ll be home late. Or at least she sent the house and clock emojis, so I guess…’

Luz had to stop as her voice broke and disappointed tears welled in her eyes. She covered her mouth and slumped down onto a bean bag, and Amity hurried over to sit with her.

‘This is so dumb…’ Luz sniffed. ‘I _know_ we agreed to only send each other one message a day to make things easier, but I still think it’s him every time.’

Amity sighed sympathetically. She put an arm around her friend, and the human leaned her head onto her shoulder.

‘It was so new and exciting and nothing I’d ever felt before,’ Luz continued, her voice still wobbling. ‘But now not having him… not having all that stuff… I almost wish I’d never had it if this is what it’s like when it’s over.’

Hidden as they were by the corner of bookcases in the empty children’s section, Amity rubbed her hand comfortingly against Luz’s far shoulder, allowing her to cry. As the minutes passed, she eventually registered that Luz’s hand had slipped into hers.

She turned her head and met the other girl’s wet brown eyes. Luz's breathing was steadier now, air flowing in and out of her mouth due to her stuffy nose, and her hand was clutching Amity’s fingers tightly. This was the closest they’d allowed themselves to get for weeks, and Amity could now feel her own breaths escaping through her parted lips. Where previously such a moment would have made Luz glance away awkwardly, now her shimmering, vulnerable eyes didn’t move, her need for comfort shining through them blatantly – Amity knew that if she leaned forward and kissed her now, Luz would most likely kiss her back.

She swallowed. ‘I think I know what might help,’ she said.

‘What?’ Luz asked softly.

Amity slowly removed her arm from around Luz’s shoulders and reached into the pocket of her uniform’s tunic. She pulled out the blue token that she kept there, and put it in Luz’s hand.

‘There’s somewhere you can go,’ she began.


	5. Chapter 5

Amity took a break from attending the sharing sessions at _Shades Of Blue_ to play when Luz started going, and not only for her own sake – part of what had gotten her to open up there herself had been the lack of pressure of being judged by people she knew. No matter how close the two of them were, Amity worried that her presence in particular may cause Luz to hold back from going through all her feelings about her first breakup. Amity didn’t want to get in the way of her friend’s journey to heal, so she now only went to the café for informal jam sessions with the rest of the band.

For the first week or so Luz remained as glum as she had been before. But gradually, Amity began to see signs of the change she’d also gone through; more smiles, more laughter, the human’s playful side slowly making itself visible again as if awaking from a winter sleep.

They had all gone to Femur Bay Beach to throw stones in the water and see what creatures popped their heads up in response. They’d done their stretches before starting in case they needed to suddenly run for their lives, but so far the only thing that had surfaced was a clump of purple seaweed.

‘Watch this,’ Luz said cockily, and flicked a stone forward. It skimmed across the water two or three times before finally sinking below the surface.

‘Not bad,’ Amity said, readying her own. She threw the stone, and it bounced off the water’s surface, darted sideways, hit a rock sticking out of the sea and flew back to Amity’s hand where she caught it artfully.

‘Pfft.’ Luz rolled her eyes. ‘You magical girls…’

‘No magic,’ Amity shrugged. ‘It’s just all in the wrist.’

Luz frowned and then glanced behind her friend, just catching the last flash of the disappearing spell circle Amity had surreptitiously been casting with her other hand. The human laughed indignantly and playfully pushed the other girl, who giggled too.

‘Okay, my record is five,’ Luz said picking another stone from the beach. ‘Or at least it was, _until_ …’

She threw with confidence, and they both watched the results.

‘Huh.’ Amity brought a hand to her chin. ‘Is there some different human math where zero is more than five?’

Luz sighed. ‘No,’ she sulked.

‘Are you sure? Because you sounded like you were building up to something really impressive.’

Luz tried to glower at her friend but a smile broke through and the effect was broken. ‘I am going to stay here as long as it takes until I prove how good I am at this.’ She bent down and chose a handful of appropriately smooth projectiles.

Amity found herself smiling again at the sight of how enthused the other girl was about her task. ‘I was worried you might not like coming here,’ she said.

‘Why?’ Luz asked, wincing as her next stone sank after only a single skim.

‘Because of how you and Orin came here the night before he left.’

‘Oh. Yeah.’ Luz flung her next shot forward; to Amity’s surprise the human didn’t look as forlorn as she’d expected at the reminder. ‘We actually came here our first night too,’ Luz said. ‘After the Formaul.’

‘Oh.’ Amity remembered the distress she would have been experiencing at that moment. It seemed so long ago now.

‘Yeah,’ Luz nodded. ‘So it was nice to bookend things like that. Gave it some closure.’ She managed to match her record of five on her next throw, but rather than celebrate she rustled the remaining ammunition in her hand thoughtfully.

‘How are you feeling now?’ Amity asked. It was the first time she’d felt brave enough to broach the subject directly since referring Luz to _Shades of Blue_ a few weeks ago.

Luz gave her an appreciative smile. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘It feels like Orin’s always going to be special to me, but now I can remember how good things were without getting miserable about them being over, and Eda says that’s normal. She called it “finding a place to put him”.’

‘I’m glad,’ Amity said, smiling too. ‘How has it been going to the café?’

‘Yeah, that definitely helped,’ Luz nodded. ‘Although I was a bit worried about it at first.’

‘I know opening up like that can be scary,’ Amity agreed.

‘Actually I was thinking more about it being a secret club with a reptilian leader who feeds on you. It sounded just a bit culty.’

‘Nah, the cults around here only recruit leading up to the winter solstice.’

‘…Right.’ Luz was frowning, but apparently chose to move past the new piece of information. ‘But being able to vent was good. There’s stuff I didn’t really know I was feeling until I had the chance to go on about them and put them into words without someone talking back.’

‘Yeah, that’s what I found too,’ Amity nodded. Luz was still holding her handful of stones, seemingly working up to raise an awkward subject of her own.

‘I know you used to play with the band in those sessions…and I just wanted to say thank you for giving me privacy.’

They gave each other awkward, vulnerable smiles. Amity started to nudge the stones under her feet, trying to find a smooth, skimmable one, and also to give her eyes somewhere to land on.

‘But now I want the chance to hear you play!’ Luz added enthusiastically, and Amity laughed shyly.

‘We’re actually gonna do a gig soon,’ she said.

‘Oh really?’ The excitement that had been missing from the human’s face for far too long was back, which warmed Amity’s core. Then Luz gasped at a thought. ‘Will there be MERCH?’

Amity giggled. ‘Probably not. But it’ll be more of a fun thing, not like-’

But they both stopped and turned at the sound of the loud yelp from further along the beach – Gus and Willow had been stood in the shallows trying to catch the little crustaceans that nested there, but now Gus was struggling to break free from a thick tentacle that had wrapped around his leg. Willow managed to tug the boy free, and the tentacle whipped back toward the slimy mass that was rising up from the water. The teenagers stared up at the great Kraken whose hungry eye was now fixed on them before fleeing back towards the treeline, throwing back spells towards the tentacles slithering across the beach.

‘SO WHEN’S THIS GIG?’ Luz yelled over to Amity as she propelled a fireball from a glyph sheet she’d retrieved from her pocket.

‘FRIDAY!’ Amity yelled back, motioning for her newly-summoned Abomination to punch back a tendril that had gotten too close. ‘BRING THE TOKEN, IT’LL GET YOU A FREE SNACK!’

‘THANKS, I’LL BE THERE!’ Luz dived under another swiping limb, and hurried over to help Willow break her vine-versus-tentacle stalemate.

* * *

There was much more of a hubbub inside _Shades Of Blue_ than was normal for the usually-tranquil café. Tonight there were no gloomy figures looking for their troubles to be accepted, and instead the clientele were chattering with a cheerful anticipation. Many new faces and face-like appendages were looking around curiously, drawn to the establishment by the advertisements that had been put up all over Bonesborough. The place seemed to be completely packed, but somehow whenever someone new came through the door an extra seat was always found for them.

Luz dabbed her finger on her plate, capturing the last muffin crumbs and bringing them to her mouth with a satisfied smack of her lips. ‘Have you ever heard Amity play before?’ she asked Willow.

The bespectacled witchling shook her head. ‘I know her parents made her practice a lot, that’s all.’

‘My Dad has a bunch of celesta albums that he listens to,’ Gus said, looking somewhat apprehensive. ‘I hope this is more lively.’

Luz chewed her lip. The music she’d heard at _Shades Of Blue_ previously had all been on the moody side, and she no longer felt the urge to sit in those feelings. Whatever internal process had been going on seemed to have come to an end, and she was now ready for the Boiling Isles to hit her with its signature excitement again. Amity had promised tonight would be more fun than the normal sessions at the café, although Luz hadn’t caught sight of her since coming through the-

The human's attention was suddenly magnetised on the figure stepping up to the stage. Amity had her hair down from its normal short ponytail, and one side of her green-and-brown locks was held back over a pointed ear by a clip in the shape of a butterfly; the clip’s vibrant blue wings had a translucent appearance akin to stained glass, and sparkled under the stage lights. Amity was wearing a wavy seafoam dress which Luz recognised as the same one the witchling had worn to the Grudgby Season Formaul, except she didn’t remember it looking as truly lovely as it did on her friend tonight. Luz heard the tap of the other girl’s kitten heels cut through the café’s chatter as she made her way across the stage to sit at the her instrument, scanning the keys before positioning her hands to tinkle out a few test notes; the quick, lyrical rise and fall of tones sounded like another voice amongst the noise of the crowd, and Luz felt that old wonder at discovering yet another skill that the green-haired girl possessed. One of the multi-limbed guitarists came over to the young celestist to say something, but Luz couldn’t make out the words over all the other voices. Whatever they’d said made Amity nod, and her reply caused them both to laugh.

The sight of her beautifully-made-up friend laughing freely, her pale skin glowing under the bright stage lights, made a sudden blush appear on Luz’s face and she quickly lowered her eyes. She wondered if her red cheeks would stand out to Amity in the crowd, which would be very embarrassing… and yet she found herself looking up again, feeling a strange hope that her friend had seen her. Amity’s eyes were on her celesta again but Luz kept watching her all the same, just in case she looked over.

After another minute or so, Baz took his place at the front of the stage. ‘Good evening music lovers!’ he called out, with higher energy than Luz was used to seeing from him.

A round of eager applause sounded out from the crowd in response and the large pig-demon on the drums started up a quick rhythm, five times the speed of the gentle music normally heard in the café.

‘We’re so glad to see all of your gorgeous and/or gruesome faces here tonight,’ Baz continued over the racing tempo. ‘Let me introduce you to your guides for the evening on this ride across our musical landscape.’

Luz let out a surprised laugh, unheard under the drum beat, at Baz’s beatnik-esque phrasing. She was used to him being more mellow in the times she’d come here before, but now the grinning lizard seemed much more animated. She looked to Amity again, wondering what the cool teenager would think of being part of such an act, but the other girl was tapping her foot along with the beat and playing a few brisk chords in accompaniment.

Baz gestured at the tusked percussionist. ‘On the drums,’ he said, ‘you are privileged to hear Sir Roland Snoutsworth!’

The drummer let out a short, truncated solo of complex beats before returning to his previous cadence, prompting another burst of applause from the crowd.

‘On the strings, try to keep up with Varys and Charlotte!’

The two spideroid guitarists plucked out complimentary sequences of twanging sounds that made Luz think of the Funk albums her mom would bring out of their hiding place every now and again, and she joined in with the applause that followed.

‘And on the celesta, it’s my pleasure to introduce Amity Blight!’

Amity’s fingers started cavorting over the keys, the magically amplified sound of her notes ringing out with metallic resonance. Her little solo was playful, even cocky in its intricacy, and when it was over Luz let out a loud whoop over the clapping around her. Amity glanced over at the noise with a grin before going back to her accompaniment, and Baz picked up his trumpet-like instrument from where it was sat to the side.

‘I’m Baz,’ he announced, ‘and it’s time for take-off, so everyone find someone to hold onto.’

He began playing his trumpet with a speed totally unlike the mournful pace Luz had heard from it before. It had the same improvised quality but instead of evoking sorrow, this time the music communicated joy, excitement – this was far more jazz than blues.

Each piece throughout the set came in dips and peaks, soaring through extended melodies where the sound of each instrument swirled together in a frictional harmony. Baz would occasionally play a call and response with each musician, and although the others had a more practised lick to their retorts Amity gamely threw herself into her own comebacks, each one lively and light-hearted. It truly sounded like the band were _playing_ together.

Luz had never seen the green-haired witchling look so happy, not even in that time before Orin had shown up. She had that joyously engrossed expression that Luz had only ever seen her wear when the other girl had gotten into a rant about _Azura_ ; she’d always thought the warm feeling she’d felt in those moments had been the happiness of getting to share her passion from the human realm with someone. But now Luz recognised that warmth was coming from seeing Amity so absorbed in something she was enjoying.

It was only when she felt her cheeks begin to ache that Luz realised she’d been smiling throughout the evening, and her hands buzzed from where she’d enthusiastically joined in with each bout of applause. The upbeat music was giving her the kind of sustained delight that she’d not felt for weeks – not since the days leading up to and directly after the Grudgby Season Formaul, in fact. And that feeling kept intensifying every time she glanced over at the girl at the celesta, who was completely lost to the noises around her.

* * *

After the final encore and an extended, exultant ovation, the crowd had left the café elated, all of them chattering excitedly about finding some other event to go on to and continue their high. Luz, Willow and Gus waited behind for Amity to do her part in clearing the stage, and cheered when she finally came over to them.

‘That was incredible!’ Willow said.

Amity grinned bashfully, still a little breathless from the rush of the performance. ‘I was so scared at first,’ she admitted. ‘But it went so quickly once it started!’

'Yeah, you’re amazing,’ Luz said. ‘You _were_ amazing,’ she quickly corrected herself. ‘I-I mean… you both were _and_ are amazing.’ She glanced up nervously from her awkward hand gestures that had accompanied her debacle but, luckily Amity still seemed too overcome to have registered the human’s flusteredness.

‘Thanks!’ was all the other girl replied with. ‘I’m so glad it turned out well, I couldn’t practice at home.’

‘Yeah, we’ve _never_ heard you play like that.’

The group all looked over to where Edric and Emira were approaching their table. Luz watched the older witchlings, a little anxious at the possibility of the twins puncturing Amity’s triumphant moment with a mocking comment. But they both seemed just as delighted to see their sister happy as her friends were.

‘We’re so proud of you Mittens,’ Edric said as they squeezed her into a hug between them, and Amity didn’t make any effort to escape, her grin immovable.

‘But we should get back before Mom and Dad suspect anything,’ Emira added.

‘Okay,’ Amity nodded, and turned to her friends. Willow was closest, and Amity pulled her into a hug.

‘Great job, Amity!’ Gus said once she was free, hugging her next, and Amity hugged him back, giggling again. And after letting go, without so much as a pause for thought, the elated girl turned to Luz and wrapped her arms around her.

Luz clutched her gladly, the sensation of holding Amity again after what felt like an age feeling suddenly new. And when they parted, their faces hovered close together for a moment. The witchling’s exhilarated golden eyes looking into hers, her flushed cheeks creased by her smile, made Luz’s heart begin to race.

And then Amity was headed to the door with her siblings, turning back and giving a final wave as she left, her smile clearly going nowhere for some time.

‘Do you think they’d give me a snapjack for the road?’ Gus asked, eyeing the café’s selection of cakes and sweets.

‘Yeah, they’ll do that,’ Luz confirmed, and Gus eagerly made his way over to the counter.

‘Amity seemed really happy,’ Willow said.

‘Yeah,’ Luz nodded. ‘And she looked so cute too,’ Luz said.

Willow nodded too. Then she blinked, and slowly turned to the human, processing the new, soft look that was now in her friend’s eye. Luz made brief eye contact before sighing and putting her face in her hands.

‘…Luz.’

‘I know.’

‘ _Luz_.’

‘I _know_.

‘LUZ _._ ’

‘Willow, I _know_ , okay? I _know_!’ Luz dropped her hands and slumped down into a nearby chair. ‘ _Why couldn’t this have happened before?_ ’ she groaned in frustration. ‘It would have saved so much trouble.’

Willow bit her lip and shrugged. ‘Knowing that someone likes you can make you see them differently. But… _now._ Tell her _now_ , please _._ Don’t make me go through this again.’

‘But Amity said she’s in _love_ with me,’ Luz said quietly. ‘I don’t know if I’m there…am I?’ She folded her arms pensively. ‘I just don’t want to start something and it not work out and things be bad again.’

Willow took a long breath. ‘You’re right about it being important not to hurt her,' she began. 'But Luz, if you’re the one who leaves it too late this time, I will bury your body where no-one will ever find it.’

Luz gulped, wavering under the other girl’s determined stare. She sat up and leaned her elbows on the table, staring down into the patterns of the varnished wood’s rings. The parallel lines mocked her, as if implying that things were straightforward.

* * *

Luz flopped down onto her sleeping bag with another groan. That tension she’d felt after the events of the Grudgby game was back, the feeling of a complicated obstacle that couldn’t be escaped. She’d sometimes been lonely back in the human realm, but at least she hadn’t had to deal with any of this kind of _drama_.

She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. Were these feelings real? Or were they an echo of what she’d had with Orin, a longing to have that with someone else and sparked up by the sight of a pretty girl having fun? How did she know it would last?

She rolled onto her side with a huff. But then she raised her head as her eye caught a small movement, a tiny flicker running over something in her heap of discarded belongings. She crawled over to the small pile near the corner and looked over the object she had spotted.

Luz stared.

‘… _Oh,_ ’ she breathed in realisation.

* * *

Amity was waiting by the little junction of paths in the woods where her route to school met the path from the Owl House. Normally Eda would fly Luz to school, but today the human had messaged Amity saying that she felt like walking and that she’d meet her on the way. It felt nice for them to be back on such comfortable terms again.

She spotted a flurry of colours through the trees and waved as her friend came into sight. Luz waved back and jogged forward, coming to a stop when she reached the junction.

‘Goooood morning my little ivory-tickler!’ Luz grinned

‘Morning Luz,’ Amity returned with a smile. ‘Everything okay with Owlbert?’

‘Yeah he’s fine, just…’ Luz shrugged. ‘Craved a stroll, Billy Joel.’

Amity chuckled obligingly at whatever human reference the other girl was making, and they began walking together.

There was an odd silence as they made their way down the path; not tense like moments they’d had in the past, but not quite the easy quietness between friends either. Amity looked over at Luz, who seemed strangely nervous, but in an anticipatory, almost excited way.

‘Hey,’ the other girl said eventually. ‘Do you still…’

They both stopped. The human was keeping her eyes down, letting her question hang unfinished in the air, and Amity waited with baited breath to see what would come next.

Luz slowly reached over a hand and twined her fingers through Amity’s, meeting the witchling’s eyes with a new softness.

Even now Amity couldn’t quite bring herself to hope. She now knew the abyss that lay below the high point she was being invited up to, and took a few seconds before responding.

‘ _Are you sure?_ ’ she asked quietly.

Luz opened her mouth to reply, but then appeared to stop herself. Instead, she reached into her pocket to remove something and held it out in her palm.

Amity looked down at the Runestone and read the words that had formed on its surface. Then she read them again, making absolutely certain that they said what she thought they’d said, before looking up at their author; the short-haired beauty was smiling that open, honest smile of hers.

‘Yeah,’ Luz confirmed. ‘I’m sure.’

The ocean of affection that Amity’d always had a reason to hold back, whether from embarrassment or heartbreak, finally crashed through the barriers she’d placed on them and filled her up until she overflowed. Her mouth stretched into a supernova of a smile, and a joyous giggle spilled out. Luz smiled too, echoing the infectious laugh, and the sight of the other girl’s returned feelings sent a further pulse of bliss flooding through Amity. She put her hands on either side of Luz’s face and pulled her into a kiss.

Her brain kept short-circuiting, unable to process that the sensation of Luz’s lips kissing hers was real and not part of one of her fantasies. Amity tried to keep the kiss going until the reality sunk in, but her mouth kept widening into a smile again and she had to pull back as more giggles burst out of her. She felt her face flush bright red, but the sight of her helpless elation had caused the tender, smitten expression she’d always dreamed of to appear on Luz’s face, and her heart burst. Amity put her arms around the human’s neck and pulled her into a hug, lifting both feet off the ground to hang from her as if to float on the clouds she had soared to. Luz clutched her back, giggling too, and then moved her hands to Amity’s waist to lift her up into the air. Amity shrieked with laughter as Luz spun around, the pair caught up in their own little bubble of happiness.

* * *

The two girls walked down the street, their hands clutched together, and the demon sat outside _Shades of Blue_ smiled and raised a hand in greeting as they approached.

‘Hey kids,’ he called.

‘Hey Archie,’ Luz flicked her blue token in the air before catching it in her hand. ‘One band member and one guest.’

‘Go on through,’ Archie said, nodding at the door. ‘You two are always welcome.’

‘Thanks,’ Luz replied, and went to go inside.

‘Hang on,’ Amity said and Luz turned back, giving her a questioning look.

Amity leaned forward and kissed the other girl, gripping each of her lips with her own in turn. Then she pulled back, smiling at her girlfriend’s surprised, slightly dazed expression. Then Luz’s eyes refocused and she blushed as she made eye contact with Archie – Amity turned to see the door-demon shaking his head fondly before glancing away again.

‘What was that for?’ Luz asked through an embarrassed laugh.

Amity shrugged. ‘Because I can.’

They both grinned at each other before heading inside.

There weren’t any customers inside, and the tables and chairs had been cleared away to places unknown. The band were all on stage gearing up for the practice session which Amity was running late for, but they all seemed delighted when they looked over to see the young couple entering.

‘Hey, it’s Lumity!’ Baz called out, jumping down from the stage.

‘Luz wanted to watch us,’ Amity said. ‘I hope that’s okay.’

‘No problem,’ Baz said, approaching. ‘It’s great to see you two finally yoked. We’ve had to piece everything together from what the two of you have said, and we’ve all gotten pretty invested.’

The two girls blushed at the sight of the band’s collective smiles, and swung their joined hands shyly. Then Luz let go as she remembered something, pulling her satchel round to dig through it.

‘I brought that Louis Armstrong album I was telling you about,’ she said, pulling out a thin, cracked plastic case that looked like it had been sat at the bottom of Eda’s pile of stock for years. ‘You gonna be able to play it?’

‘Drop it by the counter, we’ll figure it out,’ Baz said. ‘Thanks, Luz.’

Luz grinned again and headed over to the counter. Amity watched the happily humming human make her way across the café before looking back to the suited lizard in front of her.

‘So, you feeling better?’ Baz asked knowingly, and Amity chuckled self-consciously.

‘I kind of can’t believe it,’ she admitted. ‘I thought I’d lost my chance with her forever.’

Baz nodded. ‘It’s a rare, rare thing to get back something that hurt to lose,’ he said. ‘Don’t forget that, but also don’t forget how you learned to deal with the loss and still managed to find happiness without it. That’s something to value too.’

Amity looked up into the lizard’s kind eyes, and reached over to put an affectionate hand on his arm.

‘Alright, get to playing,’ Luz said, returning from the counter, looking around for a chair. ‘I’ll just be here enjoying the vibes.’

‘Actually,’ Baz glanced at the rest of the band. ‘Now that we’ve got a couple to hand, maybe the two of you could test drive something we’ve been working on.’

Roland struck up a beat, Varys and Charlotte added the rest of the backing on their guitars, and Baz hopped back up to the stage to pick up his trumpet.

Amity turned to Luz, and they smiled quietly to each other. But when Luz held out her hand, Amity took it without hesitation.

The music they danced to wasn’t quite as manic as that played at the open gig, but it was upbeat, and Baz guided them along with his cheerful melody. Soon the couple’s movements became instinctive, just as attuned to each other as they had been on that magical Grom night, except this time they had music to complement their swings and twirls. Amity’s thoughts drifted away from the movements of her feet and from the other musicians in the room to rest entirely on the beautiful girl she was holding, and who was holding her. And when she saw the same besotted focus in Luz’s eyes the witchling’s heart soared, and this time instead of sinking down again it nestled itself securely in a high branch.

Luz and Amity danced blissfully together as the music continued, their path across the café floor marked by the streams of glittering pink vapours they were both leaving behind.


End file.
